Nairobi, July 21- The Kenya Kwanza government\u2019s move to charge protesters with terrorism has triggered public outrage, with critics saying the charges lack legal merit and could discourage Kenyans from reporting real terror threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Former Law Society of Kenya President Eric Theuri dismissed the charges as \u201ccompletely ridiculous,\u201d arguing they have no legal basis. \u201cCharging Boniface Mwangi or others with terrorism is absurd. While some acts may seem disruptive, they don\u2019t qualify as terrorism,\u201d he said, warning that misuse of counterterrorism laws could damage Kenya\u2019s democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Oduor Ong\u2019wen, a former political detainee, also criticized the move, warning against the selective application of laws. \u201cWhen laws are used to suppress social unrest, we risk creating bigger problems,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mwangi, who was arrested over the weekend, is being held at Pangani Police Station and is set to appear before Kahawa Law Courts on terrorism charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Ong\u2019wen warned that diluting the meaning of terrorism could undermine national security. \u201cTerrorism is a serious crime. Using it loosely discourages the public from reporting genuine threats,\u201d he said. He stressed that Kenya\u2019s Penal Code already has sufficient provisions to deal with crimes like arson and looting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The decision has raised fears of eroding civil liberties, with many questioning whether the charges will stand in court or trigger further public protests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nairobi, July 21- The Kenya Kwanza government\u2019s move to charge protesters with terrorism has triggered public outrage, with critics saying the charges lack legal merit and could discourage Kenyans from reporting real terror threats. Former Law Society of Kenya President Eric Theuri dismissed the charges as \u201ccompletely ridiculous,\u201d arguing they have no legal basis. \u201cCharging Boniface Mwangi or others with terrorism is absurd. While some acts may seem disruptive, they don\u2019t qualify as terrorism,\u201d he said, warning that misuse of counterterrorism laws could damage Kenya\u2019s democracy. Dr. Oduor Ong\u2019wen, a former political detainee, also criticized the move, warning against the selective application of laws. \u201cWhen laws are used to suppress social unrest, we risk creating bigger problems,\u201d he said. Mwangi, who was arrested over the weekend, is being held at Pangani Police Station and is set to appear before Kahawa Law Courts on terrorism charges. Dr. Ong\u2019wen warned that diluting the meaning of terrorism could undermine national security. \u201cTerrorism is a serious crime. Using it loosely discourages the public from reporting genuine threats,\u201d he said. He stressed that Kenya\u2019s Penal Code already has sufficient provisions to deal with crimes like arson and looting. The decision has raised fears of eroding …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.moradiofm.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.moradiofm.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.moradiofm.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.moradiofm.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.moradiofm.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3264"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.moradiofm.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3266,"href":"https:\/\/news.moradiofm.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3264\/revisions\/3266"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.moradiofm.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.moradiofm.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.moradiofm.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.moradiofm.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}