Friday, 11 July 2025
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** Kenya’s president takes aim at protesters
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The directive from Kenya’s President William Ruto this week was clear: shoot protesters ([link removed]) in the legs. It came just days after police killed scores of demonstrators, marking the most violent crackdown since nationwide protests erupted last month. On Monday, tens of thousands gathered across the country to express growing outrage at Ruto’s government. When roadblocks and a heavy police presence failed to suppress the demonstrations, authorities escalated their response. According to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights ([link removed]) , 31 people were killed, 107 injured, 532 arrested and two disappeared. Article19 reported that three journalists were attacked and documented a series of other violations ([link removed]) to free expression.

These latest confrontations are part of a broader protest movement that began in June following the death of a teacher in police custody ([link removed]) . The teacher had allegedly criticised a senior police official on social media. His death ignited long-simmering frustrations over police brutality, rising living costs and deep-rooted government corruption.

Monday’s violence coincided with Saba Saba Day (Swahili for “seven seven”), which is a powerful anniversary in Kenya’s political calendar. This year marks the 35th anniversary of the 1990 protests, on 7 July, against President Daniel arap Moi’s one-party rule, which ultimately led to multiparty democracy.

Kenya appears to be caught in a cycle of protest and repression. Last year’s protests also turned violent ([link removed]) . So did previous ones.

“Every time we try to protest against these senseless and endless killings by the police, we are teargassed and some of us get arrested. The voice of the youth is not being heard by the authorities,” we were told ([link removed]) by a young man named Njoro back in 2022. Ruto, having previously served as deputy president, had just become president when we spoke to Njoro. The election was marked by low voter turnout and widespread claims of electoral fraud. Still, Ruto portrayed himself as a man of the people and embraced nicknames ([link removed]) along those lines, including “Hustler” and “Chicken Seller”. In recent years new nicknames – many of them mocking or critical – have emerged. While Ruto has largely shrugged them off, his government has not extended the same tolerance to satirical artists and online critics, who have been harassed and even disappeared. Last December, for example, the renowned
cartoonist Gideon Kibet disappeared ([link removed]) alongside his brother after meeting with opposition senator Okiya Omtata. Known by the alias Kibet Bull, he was eventually released in January ([link removed]) .

In last month’s Economist, Kenya was described ([link removed]) as a country that “once set a fine example to the rest of Africa” but “now offers a how-to guide on smothering dissent”. Orders to shoot protesters in the legs only adds weight to that.

Jemimah Steinfeld

CEO, Index on Censorship


** More from Index
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From the Bangladesh to Togo: The week in free expression ([link removed])

A round-up of the key stories covering censorship and free expression from the past seven days ([link removed])

Media freedom continues to decline at alarming speed in Serbia ([link removed])

Index and others call on the EU to take action ([link removed])

Banned Books Week UK: 5–11 October 2025 ([link removed])

Join us in celebrating the right to read freely ([link removed])

Ireland’s Defamation (Amendment) Bill fails to protect public interest speech ([link removed])

More than 30 organisations call on the Seanad to take action over anti-SLAPP measures ([link removed])

Turkey’s crackdown on cartoonists is no laughing matter ([link removed])

Turkish satirical magazine LeMan faces mobs and arrests over a cartoon ([link removed])

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** Land of the free? Magazine launch and panel discussion
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Donald Trump’s campaign against free expression is sending shockwaves across the USA and beyond. What does this mean for democracy, independent journalism, and the right to speak out?

Join us on Tuesday 5 August at St John’s Waterloo for the launch of our latest magazine issue, Land of the Free?
REGISTER ([link removed])


** From the Bangladesh to Togo: The week in free expression ([link removed])
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** >> PALESTINE: ([link removed]) Newspaper editor arrested by IDF ([link removed])
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** >> BANGLADESH: ([link removed]) Former prime minister "authorised protester shootings ([link removed]) ”
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** >> TUNISIA: ([link removed]) Opposition politicians sentenced to 35 years in prison ([link removed])
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** >> SUDAN: ([link removed]) Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) arrest freelance journalists ([link removed])
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** >> TOGO: ([link removed]) Anti-government protests met with violence ([link removed])
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** >> CHINA: ([link removed]) FreeWechat.com threatened with legal action ([link removed])
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** >> IRAN: ([link removed]) Thousands of Afghan refugees forced to leave amidst crackdown ([link removed])
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** Flashback
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Nobody cried then ([link removed])

by Ahmed Buric ([link removed])

Volume 27, Issue 2 ([link removed])

“We said our goodbyes on 11 July 1995. They took them to a meadow and made them kneel down, like in a mosque before a prayer. I remember that image so well. And none of us cried then; our men didn't, and neither did we women.”

Today marks thirty years since the Srebrenica genocide of July 1995 when 8000 Bosniak boys and men were killed by Bosnian Serb forces. On this day, we revisit the testimonies of the women left behind. Read the story here. ([link removed])


** Support our work
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The world is becoming more authoritarian and our work calling out human rights abuses and promoting freedom of expression in countries such as Kenya, Bangladesh and Togo has never been more important.

By supporting Index on Censorship today, you can help us in our work with censored artists, jailed musicians, journalists under threat and dissidents facing torture or worse.

Please donate today ([link removed])

Photos by: (Police patrol the streets in Kenya) ZUMA Press Inc / Alamy Stock Photo; (Srebrenica massacre memorial) Michael Büker / CC BY-SA 3.0

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