One activist was taken while organizing a blood donation for an injured protester, another said he was abducted while working from home late at night while his wife and three children slept nearby, and a third said he was beaten, blindfolded and thrown into the trunk of a car.
All of them said they were taken into custody by Kenyan government security forces over the past two weeks after voicing their opposition to the cash-strapped East African nation's controversial tax increase bill.
Some of them took part in the wave of anti-government protests that rocked Kenya after the bill was first introduced. At least 39 people were killed in clashes with police in June, according to the Kenya Human Rights Commission.
At least 32 people, including activists, health workers and social media figures, have been abducted or arbitrarily detained, according to interviews with human rights monitors and dozens of activists, including five who said they had been detained, some of whom spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
They described how armed men wearing balaclavas and in unmarked vehicles dragged them from the streets or their homes in the middle of the night, blindfolded them, beat them and interrogated them about their involvement in the protests.
“They were like a swarm of bees,” policy analyst and columnist Gabriel Oguda said of the hooded, armed men who stormed him from his home in the capital, Nairobi, at 2 a.m. on the eve of mass protests.
He said officers slapped and beat him, searched his house, questioned him about whether he had received money to organize protests, and ordered him to unlock his phone – and when he said some apps on his phone required his fingerprint to unlock them, the officers threatened to cut off his thumb.
Several of those detained remain missing, lawyers said. The disappearances have shaken Kenya, long a lynchpin of stability in the Horn of Africa. Activists say they have left an indelible stain on the government of President William Ruto, a key Western ally and one that received Biden's blessing when Kenya was named a major U.S. security partner in May.
Last week, a high court judge called the incidents “abductions” and, citing the constitution, ordered police and the National Intelligence Service, a civilian agency whose director is appointed by the president, to suspend their activities.
During a live debate with Kenyans on social media site “X” on Friday, Ruto was confronted by a political activist who claimed he had been beaten by police officers, taken from his home and taken to an unknown location.
“I apologise if you have been treated like that,” Ruto said. “It is not right.” The president also said he had pledged to look into the “emerging problem of abductions” and ensure police follow legal procedures when making arrests.
Police did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
“The kidnappings and murders show how illiberal the Kenyan government has become, particularly the civil service and police,” said Njoki Wamai, an assistant professor of international relations at the American International University's Africa campus in Nairobi.
One of the detained activists said a rifle was pointed at the side of his head. Most of those interviewed described being hooded, handcuffed, denied food or water, dressed in light clothing, and held in cold rooms in an unknown location for hours.
George Twet Diano, a human rights activist and farmer in Trans-Nzoia county, Rift Valley province, where President Ruto is based, said he had been receiving anonymous phone calls for weeks urging him to stop protesting against the finance bill.
Fearing for his life, Diano, 29, decided to travel to Nairobi in late June, but before he could escape he was ambushed by five men with handguns.
Di'ano said he was beaten, blindfolded and forced into the trunk of a car. After being interrogated for several hours, the men dropped him off in a town about 80 miles away, he said. They took his bloody clothes and left him in only his boxer briefs, he said. Since then, Di'ano has lived in fear, and some family, friends and business partners are afraid to get involved with him, he said.
“We are being viewed and profiled as a threat to the country,” Diano said, “but we started a movement to make this country better. No amount of intimidation will stop us from giving in.”
For many Kenyans, the abduction is a reminder of the dictatorial rule of Daniel arap Moi, who ruled for 24 years from 1978 to 2002 with a regime marked by corruption, abductions of opponents, torture and extrajudicial killings.
“A dangerous precedent has been set,” said Faith Odhiambo, president of the Law Society of Kenya, a group of lawyers calling for the release of the protesters. “The president wants to rule, but he wants to rule through fear.”
Kenya's Vice President, Ligaty Gachagua, who has become increasingly alienated from President Ruto, has also accused the National Intelligence Agency of carrying out the recent abductions and a series of extrajudicial killings last year. Amnesty International said 136 extrajudicial executions were carried out in Kenya in 2023, with many victims dying in police custody.
The intelligence chief could not be reached for comment.
“Ruto has taken Kenya back to the days of Moi,” Prof Wamai said.
The tax hike bill, introduced in May, was meant to raise revenue to help pay down Kenya's huge debt, but it was condemned by many Kenyans who are angry about government excesses and struggling with the rising cost of living.
After lawmakers passed the bill on June 25, protesters broke into Parliament and set parts on fire. Authorities responded with a violent crackdown that left hundreds injured and detained. Ruto vetoed the bill the next day, but protesters have since called for his resignation.
The president on Friday ordered an audit of the national debt, cuts to government staff and spending, and the retirement of all government employees over the age of 60.
Government authorities say the protests are funded by foreign forces but protesters deny this and say they are part of a leaderless, youth-led movement that cuts across class and tribe lines.
“These young people are the gift Kenya has always wanted,” said Julius Owino, a musician and radio station manager who had a national hit with the song “Unbwogable” in the final days of Moi's rule in 2002. “They're teaching kids how to stand up and be fearless,” Owino said.
But for many young Kenyans, the cost of protest has been high.
At least one of the activists who spoke to The New York Times said they had been sexually harassed or threatened — others said they were told they or their families would be harmed if they spoke publicly — and all were interrogated about who their leaders were and who was funding the anti-government protests.
One activist who spoke to The Times said he was asked to provide names of other activists, and that interrogators “told him, 'If you want to continue speaking out against this bill and this government, you'd be better off going into exile somewhere else.'”
For now, protesters and human rights activists say an atmosphere of fear pervades the people who continue to protest against the government. Many have changed their phone numbers, gone into hiding and, having survived the traumatic experience, are struggling to sleep.
Oguda, a policy analyst and columnist, said he was forced into a car by armed men who demanded his cellphone and then told to lie face down.
“I told myself, if today is the day they're going to kill me, then that's the way it is,” Oguda said. “There was nothing I could do.”
He was eventually taken to a police station in a neighboring county where he was questioned by five police officers. He was released a day later without being charged with a crime.
