When software developer Rose Njeri created a pro-democracy tool to help Kenyans object to a contested finance bill, she was thrown in jail and targeted by an online smear campaign.
Njeri is the latest victim of a sophisticated online apparatus that targets and harasses government critics in Kenya, where rights groups warn of an escalating crackdown on public dissent. "I got to sleep in a cell for four days," the 35-year-old told AFP. "I was just making tools that aligned with my beliefs." The east African country has seen a wave of deadly protests against President William Ruto and police brutality that have left dozens dead and thousands of businesses destroyed.
Although Njeri's arrest in May sparked outrage, prompting a wave of solidarity under the hashtag #FreeRoseNjeri on X, she also became the subject of foreign-agent conspiracies.
Around the same time, two human rights campaigners, including Kenya's Boniface Mwangi -- a long-standing critic of Ruto -- were detained in Tanzania, where they were attending the treason trial of opposition leader Tundu Lissu.
