[{"command":"settings","settings":{"pluralDelimiter":"\u0003","suppressDeprecationErrors":true,"ajaxPageState":{"libraries":"views\/views.ajax,views\/views.module","theme":"hrw_design","theme_token":null},"ajaxTrustedUrl":[],"views":{"ajax_path":"\/views\/ajax","ajaxViews":{"views_dom_id:blog_live_feed__blog_body_block__305679__en":{"view_name":"blog_live_feed","view_display_id":"blog_body_block","view_args":"305679","view_path":"\/blog\/content\/305679","view_base_path":null,"view_dom_id":"blog_live_feed__blog_body_block__305679__en","pager_element":0}}},"user":{"uid":0,"permissionsHash":"0ae5601d8790ff50fca3cf23b9ac9170285f2f75823ebdc8d9cc054bc03a679b"}},"merge":true},{"command":"add_css","data":"\u003Clink rel=\u0022stylesheet\u0022 media=\u0022all\u0022 href=\u0022\/sites\/default\/files\/css\/css_rT06N1hzNwWZvlauEGw5ZNFVKBrR23ibx56HC8Lyx4M.css\u0022 \/\u003E\n"},{"command":"add_js","selector":"body","data":[{"src":"\/sites\/default\/files\/js\/js_svkrpusmrjSaaV8heRnsa8-TbrEsMLumxMQD8vstdR8.js"}]},{"command":"insert","method":"replaceWith","selector":".js-view-dom-id-blog_live_feed__blog_body_block__305679__en","data":"\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-view-dom-id-blog_live_feed__blog_body_block__305679__en\u0022\u003E\n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n\n \u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022blog-block__content__description rich-text pt-6 mb:pt-10 mx-auto\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022 lang=\u0022en\u0022 xml:lang=\u0022en\u0022 xml:lang=\u0022en\u0022\u003EThe recent arrest of Sunday Nation journalist \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.theeastafrican.co.ke\/news\/Why-NMG-writer-Walter-Menya-was-arrested\/2558-3976408-r3f92h\/index.html\u0022\u003EWalter Menya\u003C\/a\u003E is again raising questions about media freedom as the August elections approach.\u003C\/p\u003E\u0026#13;\n\u0026#13;\n\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022 lang=\u0022en\u0022 xml:lang=\u0022en\u0022 xml:lang=\u0022en\u0022\u003ESome facts in the case are uncontested. On Sunday June 18, police officers from Kenya\u2019s Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) arrested Menya and held him at an undisclosed location. A judge allowed police to detain him for two days pending further investigations; Menya was released on June 20 without charge.\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\u0026#13;\n\u0026#13;\n\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022 lang=\u0022en\u0022 xml:lang=\u0022en\u0022 xml:lang=\u0022en\u0022\u003EBut the rest of the story is less clear. The Nation Media Group, Menya\u2019s employer, argues his arrest stemmed from an article he wrote describing the involvement of some civil servants in \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.nation.co.ke\/news\/politics\/civil-servants-jubilee-foundation-want-alleviate-poverty\/1064-3975402-mauu8u\/index.html\u0022\u003Ethe Friends of Jubilee Foundation\u003C\/a\u003E, an organization that purports to work to alleviate poverty, but also is raising money for Kenya\u2019s ruling party\u2019s re-election bid. Menya\u2019s story suggested that their open association with the foundation may amount to publicly endorsing a political candidate, a constitutional offence in Kenya, where state officers are prohibited from participating in partisan politics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u0026#13;\n\u0026#13;\n\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022 lang=\u0022en\u0022 xml:lang=\u0022en\u0022 xml:lang=\u0022en\u0022\u003EIt\u2019s unclear what Menya did wrong given he wasn\u2019t actually charged with a crime. The affidavit submitted by police in support of his detention argues that he demanded 50,000 shillings (about $500) from an informant to publish the story. The affidavit alleged that officers caught Menya in the process of receiving a portion of the money. But after three days of investigation, police provided no clear evidence of wrongdoing.\u003C\/p\u003E\u0026#13;\n\u0026#13;\n\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022 lang=\u0022en\u0022 xml:lang=\u0022en\u0022 xml:lang=\u0022en\u0022\u003EThe Kenya Union of Journalists argues that authorities are trying to discredit journalists like Menya, and his arrest was intended to intimidate and discourage investigative reporting around the election. The Nation Media Group has also raised concerns that photos on social media showing Menya in handcuffs at the DCI headquarters \u2013 a protected area where photography is prohibited \u2013 were circulated illegally with the intent to humiliate him.\u003C\/p\u003E\u0026#13;\n\u0026#13;\n\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022 lang=\u0022en\u0022 xml:lang=\u0022en\u0022 xml:lang=\u0022en\u0022\u003EAs highlighted in Human Rights Watch\u2019s\u00a0 May report \u201c\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/report\/2017\/05\/30\/not-worth-risk\/threats-free-expression-ahead-kenyas-2017-elections\u0022\u003ENot Worth the Risk\u003C\/a\u003E,\u201d Kenyan government officials and police have increasingly undermined and violated rights of journalists in recent years. The report found that police are part of a system of state-orchestrated intimidation of journalists designed to discourage them from publishing stories that are overly critical of the state. Judicial processes and short-term detention without charge has been used previously to bully and silence journalists covering political stories. Because of this, Kenya heads into the 2017 election with a press whose freedom is in serious peril, where journalists are \u2013 understandably \u2013 reluctant to risk their lives or their liberty to tell stories that matter.\u003C\/p\u003E\u0026#13;\n\u0026#13;\n\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022 lang=\u0022en\u0022 xml:lang=\u0022en\u0022 xml:lang=\u0022en\u0022\u003EAn election without a free press is an election at risk. Attacks on the press undermine the integrity of both the press and the state, and compel voters to seek information elsewhere, including from untrustworthy sources.\u00a0\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E\u0026#13;\n\u003Cscript async=\u0022\u0022 src=\u0022\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\u0022 charset=\u0022utf-8\u0022\u003E\u003C\/script\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022twitter-tweet\u0022 data-lang=\u0022en\u0022\u003E\u0026#13;\n\t\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022 lang=\u0022en\u0022 xml:lang=\u0022en\u0022 xml:lang=\u0022en\u0022\u003ENATION WRITER Walter Menya presented in a Milimani court; magistrate orders State to serve his lawyers with the application they have filed. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/t.co\/r0QHL6bIwt\u0022\u003Epic.twitter.com\/r0QHL6bIwt\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u0026#13;\n\t\u2014 NationBreakingNews (@NationBreaking) \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/twitter.com\/NationBreaking\/status\/876718462374227972\u0022\u003EJune 19, 2017\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u0026#13;\n\u003Cscript async=\u0022\u0022 src=\u0022\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\u0022 charset=\u0022utf-8\u0022\u003E\u003C\/script\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n\u003C\/div\u003E\n","settings":null}]