Kenya is facing renewed international scrutiny after Zimbabwean lawyer and prominent human rights defender Brian Kagoro was reportedly blocked for a second time from entering the country, despite holding a court order permitting his return.
Kagoro, who serves as a regional director for the Open Society Foundations, was first denied entry back in February, when he was held for more than ten hours at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and questioned by intelligence officers over claims linking him to the funding and organising of anti-government protests. He was said to have been deported to Johannesburg without formal charges or a written explanation.
Having since secured a court order clearing him to travel, Kagoro is understood to have attempted to fly back into the country in the past week, only to be pulled off a Nairobi-bound connection while transiting through Ethiopia. Details of exactly who intervened and on what authority remain unclear, and Kenyan officials have yet to offer a public explanation.
The matter has now landed before the High Court, which is reported to have given the Attorney General fourteen days to account for the second denial in light of the standing court order. The development is being closely watched by civil society groups, who say it raises fresh questions about due process and the treatment of human rights defenders in the country.
The Open Society Foundations has pushed back on the allegations said to underpin Kagoro’s continued exclusion, maintaining that it does not fund or organise political protests and that no evidence has been produced to support claims tying Kagoro to such activity. The organisation has described the latest incident as a disregard for judicial authority.
Rights advocates say the episode fits a broader pattern of concern over shrinking civic space in Kenya, particularly around the treatment of activists, lawyers and researchers working on governance and accountability issues in the region. Calls are growing for the government to clarify, in line with the court’s directive, exactly why a man cleared by its own judiciary to travel was still kept out.
The Post will continue to follow developments as the Attorney General’s office responds to the High Court’s directive.