Court rejects police request to detain activist Mutemi Kiama

By , K24 Digital
On Thu, 8 Apr, 2021 11:00 | 2 mins read
Activist Mutemi Kiama at the Milimani Law Courts on Wednesday, April 7, 2021. PHOTO | SHEILA MUTUA
Activist Mutemi Kiama at the Milimani Law Courts on Wednesday, April 7, 2021. PHOTO | SHEILA MUTUA

Mutemi Kiama, the activist who was arrested over the wide circulation of a poster of Uhuru Kenyatta, has been released on a cash bail of Sh500,000 pending completion of investigations.

Detectives had sought to detain Kiama for 14 days but Nairobi Senior Resident Magistrate Jane Kamau said the reasons given by investigators were not compelling.

"Prosecution has failed to show that Kiama should be physically present during investigations," ruled Kamau on Thursday, April 8.

She ordered Kiama to deposit Sh 500,000 bail and be reporting to the investigating officer daily for 10 days.

The case will be mentioned on Tuesday, April 20, 2021, for further orders.

Earlier, investigating officer Patrick Kibowen had filed an affidavit, saying that he is investigating a case of suspected contravention of a number of provisions of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrime Act.

Kibowen said the case also involves false publication contrary to the law.

Police say the suspected offenses allegedly occurred between April 5 and 6, 2021 by way of publication on social media.

“The preliminary investigations have disclosed that the Twitter handles “Mwarimu wa Kiama” @MutemiWaKiamu and “Wanjiku Revolution “ @WanjikuRevolt on which the suspected criminal publication was made is linked to Kiama”, the affidavit reads.

The officer says the publication was to the effect that “Citizens of the Republic of Kenya public notice Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta ID No.36023414, this is to notify the world at large that the person whose photograph and names appear above is not authorized to act or transact on behalf of the citizens of the republic of Kenya and that the nation and our future generations shall not be held liable for any penalties of bad loans negotiated and /or borrowed by him”.

Kibowen added that the words amount to false publication contrary to the law.

“As a result of the suspected link of the respondent to the said Twitter handles, and the publications thereon, Kiama was accordingly arrested on April 6”, the affidavit reads.