The death of 31-year-old Albert Ojwang has raised serious questions after he was arrested in Homa Bay on Saturday and later died while in police custody in Nairobi.

Ojwang was seized by officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), reportedly over allegations of publishing false information online.

The latest clampdown on social media users comes barely a week after a software developer, Rose Njeri was arrested in an alarming trend of the government’s intolerance on critical voices.

Ojwang was transferred to Nairobi the same day and booked at Central Police Station, where he succumbed under unclear circumstances, though police claimed he died by suicide.

It is alleged that while in custody, he banged his head against the wall in an isolation cell, lost consciousness, and was rushed to Mbagathi Referral Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

According to his father, Meshack Ojwang Opiyo, his son Ojwang was arrested at their home in Kakoth Village, Kokwanyo Location, Kabondo Kasipul Constituency, on Saturday at around 1.30 pm.

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Giving an account before and arrest the arrest, Opiyo narrated that they were having lunch when, suddenly, two motorcycles rode into the homestead —one approaching from the back and the other from the side of the house. Each motorcycle carried two plainclothes police officers.

“They introduced themselves as police officers from different stations. One of them identified himself as Sigei. They ordered my son to put down his plate, saying he was under arrest, and then handcuffed him. 

“They claimed my son had insulted their boss on X (formerly Twitter). When I asked which boss they were referring to, Sigei told me to stop asking too many questions and to follow them to Mawego Police Station,” he recounted.

He was initially booked at Mawego Police Station before being transferred to the DCI headquarters in Nairobi and later detained at Central Police Station.

According to Opiyo, he and his brother followed the officers to Mawego Police Station.

“They told me they had been hunting for my son and another young man who was arrested in Kisii for allegedly tarnishing the name of their boss by calling him corrupt. They advised me to follow my son to Nairobi,” he said.

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Opiyo added that he managed to speak to his son while he was being taken to Nairobi.

He asked him to plead with the officers not to place him in a position where he could not breathe, as he is asthmatic, but the officers did not respond.

On Sunday morning, Opiyo went to Central Police Station but was not attended to. Instead, the officers told him to go have breakfast and return at 10 am to “see” his son.

All the while, he had no idea that his son had died the previous night while in police custody.

“I was getting anxious because I hadn’t seen him,” he stated at the station after learning Ojwang had long died. 

At around 10.10 am, Opiyo returned to the station, where the station’s chaplain and some of the officers involved in the arrest escorted him to the OCS’s office. The OCS then referred him to the sub-county police commander’s office.

“They told me that my son had committed suicide by banging his head against the wall. They also said he had been placed in an isolation cell,” Opiyo recounted.

Ojwang, a teacher, was his only child. Opiyo said his son was newly married and was a father of a two-and-a-half-year-old child.

“I am broken. I have struggled to raise him and to educate him to university level. I have worked in a quarry for 20 years just for him to get a degree and support me in my old age. What did he do to be killed like that? I wish I could meet that boss because I want him to kill me too,” Opiyo said at the station.

Officials at Mbagathi Hospital confirmed that Ojwang was brought to the facility but was declared dead on arrival.

Later, in a press release, police spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga, reaffirmed that Ojwang was lawfully arrested by DCI detectives for false publication and placed in custody.

“While in custody, the suspect sustained head injuries after hitting his head against the cell wall. Police officers on duty promptly noticed the injuries and rushed him to Mbagathi Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival,” said Nyaga, adding that the Independent Policing Oversight Authority has launched an investigation into the incident.

Although the officer informed Ojwang’s father that the son died by suicide as a result of hitting his head against the cell wall, records at City Mortuary showed that police recorded cause of death as ‘sudden death’.

Opiyo also questioned why police at the station told him that the body was at Mbagathi Mortuary only for find out that it was taken to Nairobi Funeral Home (formerly City Mortuary.

The inconsistencies in the timelines raised more questions into the death of the young man.

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According to a friend who sought anonymity, Ojwang called him at 9.48 pm on Saturday when he arrived at Central Police Station.

But he was not allowed to see him and by the time he was leaving the station at 10.35 pm, Ojwang had not been booked at the Occurrence Book (OB)as is the procedure.

However, when they went back to the station on Sunday morning and insisted on getting the OB number, the OCS informed them that Ojwang was booked on Saturday at 9.05 pm.

At the Nairobi Funeral Home, Ojwang’s body had visible marks on his arm, his face was swollen and oozing blood from the nose and the mouth.

“I have viewed his body and I am shocked because how I found him, does not show anything similar to what the police explained to me. His eyes, nose are swollen. He has so many injuries on his face,” said Opiyo.

“All I want is justice for my son. He was picked in good health and the officers assured me that nothing would happen to him,” he added.

He dismissed the police account that his son committed suicide.

“Why would someone knock his head on the wall to a point of killing themselves? He would have stopped if it had become too painful. I don’t believe that narrative by police,” he added.

The Standard has established that the alleged defaming statement was posted on Kelvin Moinde’s X account, where Ojwang is one of the four administrators.

Moinde was arrested on Thursday last week in Tendere village, Gucha sub-County in Kisii County. He was booked at the Kenya police station in Kisii before being transported to DCI headquarters in Nairobi.

Moinde is being held at Kamukunji Police Station in Nairobi.