Kenya Editors Guild condemns abduction of Standard Group editor Alex Kiprotich

Kenya Editors Guild condemns abduction of Standard Group Associate Editor Alex Kiprotich. [File,Standard]

The Kenya Editors Guild (KEG) has condemned the abduction of Standard Group Associate Editor Alex Kiprotich, calling it an assault on media freedom and constitutional democracy.

Kiprotich was found safe on Wednesday, September 2, nine hours after armed men abducted him on the Gilgil-Nakuru road, the media company said.

He was located at about 2 a.m. near Masinga Dam in Machakos County, more than 200 kilometres from where he was seized, after he sought refuge at a nearby household. A Standard Group team reached him at around 6:30 a.m.

"He is safe and okay, though visibly shaken by the ordeal," the company said in a statement.

KEG President Zubeidah Kananu demanded a swift and independent investigation into the abduction, including its links to a June 27 attempt to seize Kiprotich in Nakuru. She also called for accountability regardless of the rank or institutional affiliation of those responsible.

Kiprotich told colleagues four masked men armed with AK-47 rifles pulled him from his vehicle. The men travelled in a Subaru fitted with a police siren and bearing registration KDC 125E, which the company said its checks show belongs to a government vehicle.

Officers at roadblocks along the route waved the vehicle through without stopping it, Kiprotich said.

His captors questioned him repeatedly during his captivity, pressing him on where the Standard Group gets its stories and how its headlines are decided, he said.

They also asked whether Gideon Moi, a shareholder in the company, receives visits at his Kabarak home.

Kiprotich was taken to hospital for medical checks.

Standard Group Chief Executive Officer Chaacha Mwita said in a statement that Kiprotich was abducted shortly before 9:20 p.m. on Tuesday while travelling to Nakuru.

The abduction was the second attempt to target Kiprotich in two months. Mwita said armed men in a Toyota Probox, a vehicle model repeatedly linked to enforced disappearances of government critics in Kenya, tried to seize him from his car on June 27 as he drove to work in Nakuru. He escaped by locking his doors and driving off.

According to Mwita, the attempt came days after President William Ruto publicly criticised the Standard Group over its coverage, and the company's own investigations traced the vehicle to the National Police Service's (NPS) Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau. No one has been held to account for that incident, he said.

Police said they were informed of Kiprotich's discovery and were investigating. The motive behind the abduction had not been established.

Kananu also called for an investigation into the alleged assault of two Kisumu-based Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalists, Fred Ooko and Brian Ongoro, while covering a Linda Mwananchi rally in Homa Bay town.

Police said they were informed of Kiprotich's discovery and were investigating.

Kananu also called for an investigation into the alleged assault of two Kisumu-based Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalists, Fred Ooko and Brian Ongoro, while covering a Linda Mwananchi rally in Homa Bay town.