KHRC is under attack, but we won't recoil

These are dark and unprecedented times. The Kenya Human Rights Commission is under direct attack, and the threat comes from the state meant to protect its citizens.

On July 5, KHRC’s Senior Legal Advisor on Transitional Justice, Martin Mavenjina, was extraordinary and illegally renditioned to Uganda in a chilling display of state overreach.

Mavenjina had just returned from official duty in South Africa and landed at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport at 10:00 pm.

Initially cleared by immigration and allowed entry with a stamped passport, he was recalled minutes later, his passport confiscated, and detained without explanation.

Just after midnight, at around 12:05 am, immigration officials handed him a plane ticket and escorted him onto a Kenya Airways flight bound for Entebbe, Uganda.

Neither Mavenjina, KHRC, nor his associates purchased this ticket. No justification was given. This was an extraordinary rendition—illegal, opaque, and deeply troubling.

But this was only the beginning.

Even as Mavenjina was being deported under unconstitutional circumstances, plans were already underway to target KHRC’s offices. 

On July 6, at approximately 2:08 pm, state-sponsored militia descended on our premises.

That day, KHRC had opened its doors to grieving mothers so they could address the press. Their message was simple but urgent: stop the killings of their children who are being gunned down for exercising their constitutional right to protest.

The attackers were armed, some with stones, others with batons. Their mission was twofold: silence the mothers and instill fear. They vandalized property, looted phones and laptops, and assaulted those present, including journalists. The attackers knew exactly what they were doing—and for whom, the state.

Some masked their faces to evade identification; others operated openly, without fear of consequences, because they knew they had state cover.

Three days later, at around 6:20 pm, two officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations drove to KHRC, claiming they were “investigating” the attack. When asked, they said they intended to take photographs of the premises “to aid a forensic investigation.”

While KHRC has always supported lawful investigations, the timing and suspicious nature of this visit raise serious questions. Where was the urgency on the day of the attack? Why arrive days later, way after working hours, without proper procedure?

This page is dedicated to documenting these acts of state aggression and sharing the growing wave of local, regional, and international solidarity.

The truth cannot be silenced.

You can see the attack on the KHRC offices below: 

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