{"id":115229,"date":"2025-05-19T08:03:38","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T08:03:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/05\/19\/kenya-urges-tanzania-to-release-former-cj-amid-a-wave-of-deportations\/"},"modified":"2025-05-19T08:03:38","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T08:03:38","slug":"kenya-urges-tanzania-to-release-former-cj-amid-a-wave-of-deportations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/kenya-urges-tanzania-to-release-former-cj-amid-a-wave-of-deportations\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenya urges Tanzania to release former CJ amid a wave of deportations"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, May 19 \u2013 Kenya has called on Tanzanian authorities to immediately release former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga and two other Kenyan activists detained in Dar es Salaam.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kenya\u2019s Foreign Office made the appeal on Monday amid growing concerns over an apparent clampdown on Kenyan legal observers and civil society figures attending opposition leader Tundu Lissu\u2019s high-profile treason hearing.<\/p>\n

Mutunga was arrested early Monday at Julius Nyerere International Airport alongside Hanifa Adan and Hussein Khalid, prominent human rights defenders from HAKI Africa and MUHURI, respectively. <\/p>\n

The three were in Tanzania to observe court proceedings against Lissu, a vocal critic of President Samia Suluhu\u2019s administration arrested for his \u2018No Reform, No Elections\u2019 campaign.<\/p>\n

The arrests came amid a wave of escalating hostility toward Kenyan activists and legal observers. <\/p>\n

Overnight, Tanzania deported Kenya\u2019s former Minister for Constitutional Affairs Martha Karua along with lawyer Gloria Kimani and human rights campaigner Lynn Ngugi, in a move interpreted as a systematic effort to block Kenyan figures from attending Lissu\u2019s trial.<\/p>\n

Just hours before Mutunga\u2019s arrest, Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi reported an attempted intrusion into his hotel room by unidentified individuals who claimed to be \u201cfriends\u201d at 1am.<\/p>\n

He refused to open the door and alerted hotel security. By 2am, news of the arrests at the airport broke.<\/p>\n

EAC norms <\/h2>\n

In Nairobi, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs subtly protested the arrests, invoking the principles of regional cooperation under the East African Community (EAC).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe strongly urge the authorities in Tanzania to release the former Chief Justice of Kenya and his delegation consistent with the norms of the East African Community,\u201d said Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing\u2019oei.<\/p>\n

Despite the tensions, Kenya\u2019s immediate former Chief Justice David Maraga arrived in Tanzania on Monday, announcing his presence to attend Lissu\u2019s hearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cSafely arrived in Dar-es-Salaam. Headed to Court for the Tundu Lissu Court Case,\u201d Maraga, a campaigner for good governance and the rule of law, announced.<\/p>\n

His arrival coincided with mounting criticism from regional and international human rights bodies over Tanzania\u2019s handling of the situation.<\/p>\n

It remained unclear under what legal grounds Taznania was effective the arrests and deportations. Tanzanian authorities had not issued an official statement regarding the detention or the deportation of the Kenyan citizens by midmoring on Monday.<\/p>\n

Mutunga, who served as Kenya\u2019s Chief Justice from 2011 to 2016, is internationally respected for his commitment to constitutionalism and democratic governance.<\/p>\n

His detention\u2014alongside Adan and Khalid\u2014has drawn outrage across the region, with civil society groups warning of a shrinking democratic space in Tanzania and the weaponization of immigration and security procedures to stifle solidarity and oversight.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI, Kenya, May 19 \u2013 Kenya has called on Tanzanian authorities to immediately release former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga and two other Kenyan activists detained in Dar es Salaam. Kenya\u2019s Foreign Office made the appeal on Monday amid growing concerns over an apparent clampdown on Kenyan legal observers and civil society figures attending opposition leader […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115229\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}