Outrage in Kenya as autopsy reveals a blogger was strangled in police custody

Protests erupted in Nairobi on Monday and Tuesday over the death of Kenyan blogger Albert Ojwang, who was found dead after being in custody at the location on Sunday.

According to the police, he injured himself by banging his head against the wall in his cell. However, an autopsy conducted on Tuesday indicated that Ojwang was strangled in police custody.

According to government pathologist Dr. Bernard Midia, Ojwang sustained multiple injuries consistent with assault, not self-harm.

“When we examined the pattern of the injury, especially on the trauma, I found it on the head. Hitting against a blunt substance like a wall would have a pattern,” Dr. Midia said during a press briefing.

Ojwang was arrested on Friday in Homa Bay, western Kenya and driven 400km to the capital, Nairobi, said fellow activists during a news conference outside the Nairobi Funeral Home, where they came to pay their respects to the family. The group says his post about the deputy police chief Eliud Lagat on X was the reason for his arrest.

"What the members of the (Ojwang) family are saying is that, they have seen the body, the lawyer has also said they have seen the body, and there is more than one injuries on his face on his hands and the body so how could he have hurt himself like that?" said activist Ndungi Githuku.

Kenya Police said that the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) had launched an investigation into the incident. Police Inspector-General Douglas Kanja said that officers who were on duty when Ojwang died in custody would also not be returning to work while they await the outcome of the investigations.

Amnesty Kenya also said in a statement that Ojwang’s arrest raises serious questions and that the results of the IPOA report must be made public and any officers found responsible must be held fully accountable.

Ojwang’s death continues to spark outrage online and has renewed calls for protests to demand accountability from the government.

This incident comes almost one year after several activists and protestors were killed and abducted by the Kenya Police during the finance bill protests in 2024. Economic frustration remains high, despite the proposed taxes being scrapped last year.