Six people found "dumped by the roadside" in Kenya said they were "beaten" and "tortured" after being arrested during a memorial for protesters killed in 2024, according to human rights groups.
Amnesty International Kenya said Saturday on X that six Kenyans – Collins Ochieng, Muteti Mulinge, Michael Ngigi, Elisha Alam, Fredrick Ojiro and Christine Walubengo – had been missing since their arrest on Thursday. They were found "abandoned" at various locations in Nairobi on Saturday morning, but one protester remains missing, the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) added.
"Three more comrades have been found dumped. Along with three found earlier, they report having been brutally assaulted by police while in custody," the KHRC wrote in an X post. "Meanwhile, Davis Lichuma remains forcibly disappeared. His whereabouts are unknown."
Amnesty Kenya said the group "is now receiving medical treatment after reporting they were beaten and tortured while in custody."
Around 355 people were arrested nationwide Thursday, according to Kenya's Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen, as protesters marked the second anniversary of the 2024 protests, in which 60 people were killed by security forces. Many appeared in court on Friday.
The six protesters were arrested outside Parliament and had been unreachable since Thursday, when human rights groups called for their immediate release. They were found with injuries and taken to hospital, according to local media.
"These allegations of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment demand an immediate independent and impartial investigation by the Independent Police Oversight Authority and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, and those responsible must be held accountable," Amnesty Kenya said.
The East African nation has a long history of police brutality and forced disappearances. At least 127 people have been killed in protests in Kenya during June-July 2024 and the same period in 2025, according to a police watchdog, as security forces have fired on protesters with near impunity.
