Calls made for accountability after death in custody of blogger Albert Ojwang and more deadly police violence against protesters.
Nairobi, Kenya – On June 7, Albert Ojwang was visiting his parents in his home village of Kakoth in Kenya’s Homa Bay County. His mother had just served him ugali (maize meal) and sukuma wiki (kale) for lunch when police officers on motorbikes arrived at the family’s compound.
Before Ojwang could take a first bite, they arrested him, taking him to the local Mawego police station before transporting him 350km (200 miles) to the Central Police Station in the capital, Nairobi.
The officers told his parents he had committed an abuse against a senior government official and was being arrested for publishing “false information” about the man on social media.
Ojwang, a blogger and teacher, had no criminal record and was just a month shy of his 31st birthday. But it was a celebration he would not live to see because less than a day later he was dead.
