NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya experienced a dramatic escalation in extrajudicial killings, torture, and state repression throughout 2025, signalling what human rights groups describe as a dangerous drift toward authoritarianism.
In a statement marking International Human Rights Day, the Independent Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU) revealed that its teams had documented a sharp rise in grave violations, including nearly 100 extrajudicial executions and dozens of cases of torture and custodial deaths.
The findings, backed by forensic investigations, survivor testimonies, and hospital records, show a worsening human rights environment and deepening erosion of constitutional freedoms.
According to IMLU, the country recorded 97 extrajudicial executions and 18 deaths in police custody this year, while 72 people reported torture or ill-treatment at the hands of state officers.
Another five individuals were forcibly disappeared. Hospitals documented 49 protest-related injuries, mostly linked to police action during major demonstrations on June 9, June 25 and the Saba Saba protests, where officers used both lethal and non-lethal force.
The organisation warned that forensic evidence—including close-range gunshot wounds and injuries consistent with deliberate targeting—points to unlawful policing practices.
These patterns, IMLU said, illustrate a level of militarised crowd control that has increasingly defined law enforcement operations in 2025.
The report also highlights the criminalisation of dissent, noting that young peaceful protesters were charged under anti-terrorism laws, undermining constitutional safeguards on assembly and expression.
This trend mirrors Kenya’s downgrade to a “repressed” state in the People Power Under Attack 2025 report released on Monday by Civicus, the Kenya Human Rights Commission, and the Civic Freedoms Forum.
Beyond Kenya’s borders, IMLU cited a troubling rise in transnational repression, with activists being abducted or forcibly deported in what appears to be coordinated attempts to silence critics.
Among the most notable cases were the deportations of Tanzanian activist Maria Sarungi, Uganda’s Martin Mavenjina, and several Kenyan human rights defenders, including Bob Njagi, Boniface Mwangi and Nicholas Oyoo.
Media freedom also came under strain, with journalists facing arrests, disruptions to newsroom operations, and episodes of internet throttling that hindered reporting during national protests.
IMLU said such actions undermine public accountability and reflect a growing intolerance for scrutiny.
One of the year’s most distressing incidents involved 17-year-old Felix Senet Takona, a student at Naroosura Secondary School who was allegedly tortured while in police custody.
He was later found with severe injuries, including burn wounds on his legs—an example IMLU said illustrates systemic custodial violence, including against minors.
Throughout 2025, the organisation provided extensive support to victims and their families, offering medical treatment to 94 survivors, forensic autopsy services to 79 families, psychosocial care to 345 individuals, and emergency rescues in 14 high-risk cases.
It also facilitated 20 legal and bail interventions to assist victims navigating the justice system.
Despite a climate of widespread impunity, IMLU welcomed a recent High Court ruling by Justice Edward Mureithi affirming that the President has no legal authority to appoint a panel of experts on compensation—a decision the organisation said reinforces the constitutional independence of oversight bodies such as the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights and the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA).
IMLU urged the government to strengthen IPOA’s investigative mandate, stop the misuse of counterterrorism laws against protesters, operationalise the National Coroners Service Act, criminalise enforced disappearances, and uphold the rights to assembly, expression, movement and political choice.
The organisation said these steps are critical for restoring public trust and safeguarding constitutionalism.
As the world marks International Human Rights Day under the theme “Our Everyday Essentials,” IMLU warned that Kenya stands at a crossroads.
Without decisive action, it said, the country risks entrenching a culture of unchecked security force power and diminishing civic freedoms.
The organisation paid tribute to journalists, civil society, medical personnel, forensic experts and human rights monitors who played a central role in documenting abuses this year, saying their work remains vital in the fight for justice, accountability and healing.
