MUHURI director Khelef Khalifa allegedly arrested in Malindi

Muslims for Human Rights (MUHURI) has claimed that its director and board member, Khelef Khalifa, has been arrested at the Sabaki Bridge checkpoint in Malindi, the same spot where he was allegedly detained under similar circumstances last year.

In a statement posted on its official social media pages, MUHURI said Khalifa was with six other human rights defenders en route to Lamu when they were stopped by men in balaclavas, whom the group described as “pretending to be police.”

The rights organisation condemned the incident, terming it illegal and a form of intimidation meant to silence activists.

“We just got the word. They’ve taken Khelef. Again. They refused to show their IDs to men whose own faces were hidden. Men in balaclavas, pretending to be police,” MUHURI said in the statement.

“The High Court has already ruled that police cannot hide their identities. To us, and we are right according to the law, these aren’t officers but masked thugs with a (hidden) badge.”

MUHURI added that the latest incident mirrors a similar one from September 2024, when Khalifa was allegedly detained at the same bridge and later released without charge.

“Last September, the same stunt, the same bridge. They never charged him then, because they had no case. He sued them for it. And now, here they are, back at it, thinking we’ll just get used to this nonsense,” MUHURI said.

The organisation further accused security agencies of using “cheap intimidation tactics” to suppress voices of dissent, urging authorities to release Khalifa and his colleagues immediately.

“This is a wild goose chase meant to waste our time and silence our voices. Release them. Now. All of them,” MUHURI stated, calling on the state to “follow the law” and “stop wasting energy targeting the very people trying to hold this country together.”

The activist’s 2024 arrest had similarly sparked public concern after he was apprehended by a multi-agency team in Malindi for questioning officers who had concealed their faces and failed to display their badges, contrary to a High Court directive issued by Justice Bahati Mwamuye.

The ruling required all police officers to wear visible identification tags and prohibited them from hiding their faces when engaging the public.

At the time, MUHURI’s Rapid Response Officer, Francis Auma, denounced the arrest as “illegal and deeply troubling,” warning that any harm to Khalifa would be “the sole responsibility of the police.”