Fresh protests broke out in Kenya’s capital Nairobi on Thursday (June 12) over the death of a blogger in police custody last week, the latest case to draw scrutiny to the country’s security services which have been accused of extrajudicial killings for years.
Police fired teargas to disperse dozens of protesters in the capital, Reuters TV footage showed, a day after President William Ruto said blogger Albert Ojwang had died “at the hands of the police”, reversing earlier official accounts of his death.
Police initially said Ojwang, 31, was arrested in western Kenya on Friday for allegedly defaming the country’s deputy police chief Eliud Lagat online, and died “after hitting his head against a cell wall”.
Police watchdog IPOA (Independent Policing Oversight Authority) has launched a probe while the European Union and the United States have called for a transparent investigation into the blogger’s death.
Protesters demanded Lagat’s resignation on Thursday, with some carrying Kenyan flags and chanting “Lagat must go”.
His wounds, including a head injury, neck compression and soft tissue damage, pointed towards assault as the cause of death, according to pathologist Bernard Midia, who was part of a team that conducted an autopsy.
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