NAIROBI: A blogger who was arrested on Saturday in Mombasa and driven to Nairobi for blogging issues that abused and belittled "the big people in government" has been released.
Police accused Abraham Mutai of misusing a licensed communication platform to cause anxiety.
Mutai who uses the Twitter account @ItsMutai, was arrested at about 1pm in Mombasa before he was driven by CID officers to Nairobi. They arrived at about 11pm and was booked at Muthaiga police station.
Sunday, he was taken to CID headquarters where he was questioned for more than an hour before he was released and ordered to report there Monday for further questioning and possible prosecution.
He was freed on personal bond.
Sources said Mutai had published on his blog "issues that offended many people and caused anxiety without evidence".
Police accused him of misuse and abuse of communication-licensed platform, an offence they said they are investigating.
The online account associated with Mutai on the popular micro-blogging site has in recent months been used to post allegations of poaching, corruption and misuse of funds in Isiolo, Mandera and Mombasa counties.
The blogger has also posted claims of impropriety at the Geothermal Development Company and linked several names to the alleged corruption.
CID director Ndegwa Muhoro said there had been a complaint regarding issues that Mutai had handled in the recent past and that was why he was arrested and questioned.
"I do not have details but there was a complaint on that man," said Muhoro without elaborating. His account had been disabled by the officers who arrested him.
His arrest sparked an outrage online with a hashtag #FreeMutai being created to push for his release. The harsh tag was trending number one in Kenya on Saturday and yesterday even as the news on his release trickled in.
Many of those who tweeted said the government is now cracking down social media users after realizing it is the main avenue many are using to expose corruption and other vices in both national and county governments.
Lawyer Mugambi Laibuta led other bloggers to CID headquarters to fight for the release of Mutai. They hugged each other on his release and vowed to continue fighting for the voiceless.
@SokoAnalyst said: Our silence when the likes of @ItsMutai are arrested will embolden the perpetrators to keep coming after us. Let us speak up.
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@RobertAlai said: On social media, we amplify what mainstream media is paid to black out. We are not tribalist, we highlight tribalism you hide #FreeMutai.
The arrest of Mutai marked the latest such incident in a series that have happened in the recent past. Many of those who have been arrested had been accused of undermining authorities out of what they tweeted or published.
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