Kenyan police officers who were on duty when a man died in custody at a police station have been barred from returning to work pending the outcome of investigations, police Inspector-General Douglas Kanja has said.
Albert Ojwang was arrested on Friday after Kenya’s deputy police chief accused him of tarnishing his name, Mr Kanja confirmed.
“While in custody, the suspect sustained head injuries after hitting his head against a cell wall,” a police statement said. He was rushed to hospital “where he was pronounced dead on arrival”.
The director of Amnesty International’s Kenya branch told the BBC that Mr Ojwang’s death was “very suspicious”.
Amnesty said in a statement that it “raises serious questions that must be urgently, thoroughly, and independently investigated”.
Senior police officer Stephen Okal is quoted by the Star newspaper as saying what happened in the cell was “an attempted suicide”.
Mr Ojwang, described in media reports as a teacher and blogger, was arrested in the western town of Homa Bay and then driven 350km (220 miles) to the capital, Nairobi, his father Meshack Opiyo told journalists.
He had been accused of “false publication”,with Mr Opiyo telling online news site Citizen Digital that the arresting police officer said “Albert had insulted a senior person on X”, the social media platform.
A police statement said the officers who were on duty at the time – including the head of the police station – were “interdicted” to allow Kenya’s independent oversight body to conduct an “impartial investigation”.
This meant that the officers could not perform their duties, and would receive half their salaries, pending the outcome of the investigation, police spokesman Michael Muchiri told the BBC.
Speaking at a press conference, Mr Kanja said the police would give the investigators all “necessary support” to resolve the case.
He said Mr Ojwang was arrested in Homa Bay on Friday, then transferred to Nairobi for questioning and booked at the police station on Saturday.
According to the police chief, Mr Ojwang was found unconscious during a routine inspection of the cells, and was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
He said the arrest had been prompted by a complaint by deputy police chief Eliud Lagat “about his name being tarnished”.
“It was on that basis that investigations were actually being carried out,” the police chief added.
The head of the Independent Police Oversight Commission (Ipoa), Ahmed Isaack Hassan, has said his team will do “everything to ensure justice is served for the family and for all Kenyans”.
Mr Hassan, who attended the press conference, called on officers not to interfere with the investigations.
A post-mortem examination was scheduled to be carried out on Monday.
The death of Mr Ojwang, who was reported to have been 31, has sparked outrage online and calls for protests to demand police accountability.
Referring to the circumstances of his arrest, Amnesty Kenya director Irungu Houghton said it was “quite shocking” that Mr Ojwang was not booked in at the local police station after being detained, but was instead taken on a long journey.
He called on the independent investigators to secure what he described as “the crime scene” at the police station in Nairobi.
Ojwang’s detention and death comes at a time of rising concern about how some government critics are being treated.
Last week, software developer Rose Njeri – who created a tool to help people oppose a government finance bill – was charged with violating a cybercrime law.
