On February 23, 2026, Mr. William Ruto’s regime carried out an illegal and unjustified rendition of Brian Kagoro, the Africa Director of the Open Society Foundations (OSF), barring him from entering Kenya, and taking him to South Africa.

Immigration officials intercepted him on February 22 when he arrived at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Shortly, officers from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) detained and subjected him to an intensive interrogation that lasted 14 hours. Later, Kagoro was verbally declared persona non grata and removed from Kenya’s territory without due process, after authorities falsely and maliciously accused him of funding the Gen Z–led protests in Kenya, allegations that remain unsupported and politically motivated.

The Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) condemns this action as an act of aggression and a direct assault on the work of human rights defenders across the region. The incident points to a deepening trend of transnational repression, which led CIVICUS Monitor to classify Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda as repressed in its 2024 and 2026 reports, an assessment that signals severe democratic backsliding and a rapidly shrinking civic space.

Kagoro is a longtime and widely respected Pan-Africanist and democracy advocate who has, for decades, contributed to advancing democratic freedoms and accountability for human rights abuses across Africa. He has engaged in Kenya in various capacities over many years, making his sudden targeting alarming and unjustifiable.

This arbitrary action constitutes a gross violation of Kagoro’s constitutional rights, including the right to human dignity, freedom and security of the person, freedom of expression, protection from arbitrary detention, and the right to fair administrative action. Article 47 of the Constitution of Kenya guarantees that every person is entitled to administrative action that is lawful, reasonable, procedurally fair, and accompanied by written reasons where rights are adversely affected. These guarantees were blatantly ignored in Kagoro’s case, after he was also held for a long time, denied legal representation, and a family contact.

The assault on Kagoro follows a troubling ordeal involving KHRC’s Martin Mavenjina, who was illegally and extraordinarily renditioned to Uganda on July 5, 2025. To date, the Ruto regime has refused to allow his return to Kenya, and this reinforces concerns about an entrenched policy of targeting human rights defenders.

As the country approaches the 2027 general election, KHRC notes that the government appears intent on deflecting political responsibility for the widespread protests that erupted organically in 2024 and 2025 by attributing them to foreign influence. This narrative ignores the domestic grievances that drove thousands of young Kenyans into the streets; anger fueled by punitive political and economic policies and the steady erosion of democratic accountability.

Indeed, the regime’s own actions betray this deflection. The gazettement of a panel of experts on compensation for victims of demonstrations and public protests—since declared unconstitutional for usurping the mandate of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR)—amounts to an implied admission of state responsibility, even as officials publicly deny it. This contradiction underscores a broader attempt at cover-up and whitewashing.

KHRC therefore demands the immediate reversal of the decision against Kagoro to allow him unfettered entry into and work in Kenya, in line with his regional leadership mandate. The same demand applies to Mavenjina. KHRC further demands that NIS and Kenya’s Immigration Department issue a written explanation for the denial of entry and rendition, offer a public apology, and guarantee non-repetition. KHRC also urges the KNCHR and the Commission on Administrative Justice to initiate independent investigations into the growing trend of renditions targeting human rights defenders and to recommend effective remedies. Finally, KHRC demands that the Ruto regime uphold human rights and the rule of law in all its actions.