Kiama to spend another night in police custody, detective says if freed he’ll delete tweet

By , K24 Digital
On Wed, 7 Apr, 2021 16:23 | < 1 min 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

Activist Edwin Kiama Mutemi will spend another night at Nairobi Central Police Station pending a court ruling on Thursday, April 8.

Nairobi Senior Principal Magistrate Jane kamau ordered the suspect to be detained to allow her make a ruling on whether to detain the activist for 14 days.

The Director of Public Prosecutions, through Joseph Riungu, sought to detain Mutemi for 14 days over an alleged cyber crime offense for a Twitter post that incited international lenders against Kenya and President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Kiama, who appeared in court on Wednesday morning, April 7, is alleged to have committed the crime on April 5 and 6th.

The activist's lawyer, Martha Karua, strongly opposed the application to detain him, telling the court that the act was malicious and an abuse of the court process.

Kiama is said to have used his Twitter handle, under the name of Mwalimu wa Kiama, to post the said offending tweet.

Detective Patrick Kibowen told the court that the activist's phones, laptop and hard drives were submitted for digital forensic examination.

Further, Kibowen said he suspects the activist committed the alleged offense with other suspects and that his release would jeopardise investigations.

The detective said he feared that, once freed, Kiama would delete the tweet, thus interfering with investigations.