NAIROBI — The High Court has ordered Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja and Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Director Mohammed Amin to produce missing Tanzanian activist Twaha Mwaipaya in court, dead or alive, by Monday. Kenyans
Justice Alexander Muteti, sitting at the Milimani High Court, directed Kanja, Amin and the Officer Commanding Ruai Police Station to present Mwaipaya before the court on November 2 at 11am. The respondents must also produce the original detention warrant and explain why the activist should not be immediately released from custody. Citizen
The orders followed an urgent habeas corpus application filed by human rights organisation VOCAL Africa on behalf of Mwaipaya. The court certified the matter as urgent and summoned Kanja and Amin (or their advocates) to appear and account for the circumstances of his alleged arrest and detention. Kenyans
Mwaipaya, a national mobilisation coordinator for the youth wing of Tanzania’s main opposition party CHADEMA (BAVICHA) and a vocal critic of the Tanzanian government, was reportedly abducted on Sunday, October 25, at around 1pm at Kanisani stage in Kamulu along the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway. Witnesses said armed men wearing balaclavas or ski masks and dark glasses, travelling in a black double-cabin pickup, intercepted the Bolt taxi he was in and drove off with him. Allafrica
A missing person report was filed at Ruai Police Station under Occurrence Book number 47/25/10/2026, but his family and lawyers say they have received no information about his whereabouts, the reasons for his detention, or the agency holding him. VOCAL Africa has warned of a real risk that he could be forcibly transferred to Tanzania, where he might face torture or incommunicado detention. Nation
The court has directed the respondents and interested parties to file their responses by 9am on Monday. The matter will be mentioned at 11am the same day for further directions. Citizen
The case adds to a series of reported cross-border abductions of East African dissidents in Kenya, raising fresh concerns about the safety of political exiles in the country.