Kenya deports Ugandan human rights defender and lawyer
The Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) claims its senior legal counsel, Martin Mavenjina, has been deported from Nairobi.
The Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) claims its senior legal counsel, Martin Mavenjina, has been deported from Nairobi.
It said Mr. Mavenjina was captured just after landing from South Africa, where he had travelled on official duty.
The Public Benefits Organisation (PBO) suggested Mavenjina was arrested on account of alleged past run-ins with law enforcement agencies, terming it a deliberate crackdown on human rights defenders.
He was said to have been on the radar of Kenyan authorities, who are investigating the alleged involvement of civil societies in the June 25th protests that were marred by violence.
“The government has deported Martin Mavenjina, KHRC’s senior legal advisor on transitional justice. Since June 25, the regime has been deliberately targeting human rights defenders, and Mavenjina’s deportation is part of their strategy,” KHRC tweeted on Sunday afternoon, July 6. t
According to the organization, Mavenjina was in Kenya with a valid permit to work as its legal advisor.
KHRC blamed the President William Ruto-led administration for the alleged deportation, saying they were striving to return the Ugandan to Kenya.
“He had arrived in Kenya at 10 pm on Saturday following an official visit to South Africa. Mavenjina holds a valid work permit. Since June 25, the William Ruto regime has been deliberately targeting human rights defenders, and Mavenjina’s deportation is part of their strategy. We are working to bring Mavenjina back to Kenya,” read KHRC’s statement.
The lawyer’s unceremonious exit from Kenya is likely to spark another phase of uproar against authorities in the East African region, where there have lately been cases of lawyers and activists being deported.
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To be the first victim in the string of deportations was veteran Ugandan opposition politician, Dr Kizza Besigye, who was captured in Nairobi late 2024 and bundled into a plane en route to Kampala.
Besigye was in Kenya to attend the the book fair of organised by Kenyan politician and lawyer Martha Karua.
The politician was taken to the martial courts in Kampala, where he was charged with treason.
He has been confined in prison to date.
In May this year, Tanzania deported Karua, Kenya’s former chief justice Willy Mutunga, and a host of activists who had landed in Dar es Salaam to attend the trial of Tanzanian opposition chief Tundu Lissu.
Karua and her colleagues were detained at the Julius Nyerere International Airport on Sunday, May 18.
Her passport was seized as she was processed for deportation.
She was later returned to Kenya with her colleagues without attending Lissu’s court trial.
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