Online activist Rose Njeri.
Relatives of Rose Njeri, an online activist arrested and detained for setting up an anti-Finance Bill, 2025 website, have expressed concern over her well-being.
Njeri, 35 and a mother of two, was arrested by police on Friday in Nairobi's South C area. She is facing cybercrime charges following her activism on social media calling for Kenyans to reject this year's Finance Bill.
It has now emerged that Njeri has a medical condition, iron anaemia, with her mother saying that her continued detention will have a serious impact on her health. She's asking the police to release her in order to access her medicine.
“I plead with the government to release her because she has children who are waiting for her. She also keeps getting anaemia, so this (custody) is not a good condition for her to be in,” Njoki said after traveling from Nyeri County following the arrest of her daughter.
Online activist Rose Njeri.
Speaking on Sunday outside Pangani Police Station, she stated that her daughter has done nothing to deserves such punishment.
Eva Waithera, who is Njeri’s aunt, said her health is deteriorating behind bars.
“She is worried about what is happening. She is really worried and has a lot of fear and complains of cold in the cell,” Ms Waithera said.
Fear for her safety
Additionally, Waithera now says the activist fears for her safety given the manner in which she was arrested.
“She does not now know the kind of people that she could talk to. You can see some fear in her eyes and when you talk with her, you can see anxiety as she tries to look around to see if someone is monitoring her.”
Yesterday, activists including Boniface Mwangi and Hussein Khalid joined the family in calling for her release. They also claimed that Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss Mohamed Amin issued orders that she should not be released until Tuesday when her fate will be known.
“Creating a website to contribute to public participation is not a crime. They arrested her on Friday knowing that it is a long weekend...This is intimidation, a ploy to threaten and silence Kenyans,” Khalid said.
Njeri's relatives and some of the activists were allowed to see her at Pangani Police Station. They all raised concern over the state of her health.
“They told her that they were arresting her because of website. We have spoken with the OCS and the OCPD and they said that they do not have the power to release her. We want to ask DCI Amin to let Njeri go home to her family,” Mwangi said.
