Uthman Bakari
Malindi.
Prominent human rights defender Khelef Khalifa, director and board member of Muslims for Human Rights (MUHURI), was arrested on Tuesday at the Sabaki Bridge checkpoint in Malindi by unidentified men described as wearing balaclavas and posing as police officers, according to a statement from the organization.
Khalifa was reportedly traveling with six other human rights activists to Lamu for an unspecified engagement when the group was stopped. In a statement posted on MUHURI’s official X (formerly Twitter) account, the organization condemned the arrest as an “illegal act of intimidation meant to silence dissent.”
“We just got the word. They’ve taken Khelef. Again. Our senior comrade and board member, Khelef Khalifa, was just arrested at the Sabaki Bridge checkpoint in Malindi—the same spot they grabbed him last year…. He was with six other rights defenders en route to Lamu. You ask why? Because they refused to show their IDs to men whose own faces were hidden—men in balaclavas, pretending to be police,” the statement read.
MUHURI said the arrest violated a High Court directive issued in August 2024 that prohibits police officers from concealing their identities during operations. The directive, delivered by Justice Bahati Mwamuye of the Environment and Land Court in Malindi, required officers to display visible name tags or service numbers during public engagements to ensure accountability.
The organization described the alleged perpetrators as “masked thugs with a (hidden) badge,” arguing that the detention directly contravened the court’s order. It called for the immediate release of Khalifa and his colleagues, terming the incident a “cheap intimidation tactic and a wild goose chase meant to waste our time and silence our voices.”
This marks at least the second such confrontation involving Khalifa at the Sabaki Bridge checkpoint—an area known for heightened security operations. On August 17, 2024, just three days after Justice Mwamuye’s ruling, Khalifa was detained in the nearby Mida area after questioning officers for hiding their faces. He was held for nearly four hours and later charged with “causing disturbance” and “obstructing police.” No substantive charges were ever pursued.
The 2024 incident drew sharp condemnation from rights groups, including the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), which decried the arrest as “a violation of a standing High Court order” and a sign of “escalating police impunity.” Khalifa later announced plans to sue the officers involved, alleging harassment and abuse of authority.
As of Tuesday evening, the whereabouts of Khalifa and the six other detained activists remained unknown, with no official comment from Kilifi County police or the National Police Service. MUHURI said it is pursuing legal options and vowed to continue pressing for transparency and accountability in coastal security operations.
“Such tactics will not deter us. We will not be silenced for defending the rights that hold this country together,” the organization stated.