Titus Sifuna, a middle-aged man who was arrested for creating a parody account targeting President William Ruto, has been released.
Sifuna was released from Police custody on Friday, April 25, after the intervention of the Defenders Coalition.
According to Hanifa Farsafi, Sifuna was released after a Ksh100,000 bail payment.
She accused the police of contravening the law, adding Sifuna had been traumatised by his ordeal.
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"They kept him in for 7 days with no trial. No charge sheet. And a bail of Ksh100,000. A huge thank you to the defenders coalition for their help always! They paid the Ksh100,000 bail. Asanteni sana."
"Their intention was to keep him in for 7 days to torture him. He’s not even speaking or smiling," she alleged.
Sifuna has been arrested and arraigned at the Milimani Law Courts on April 22.
He was accused of operating a parody account under the handle @5thethief and username "I must go". According to the police, the man had posted derogatory remarks directed at the President and his family.
His arrest and arraignment elicited mixed reactions among Kenyans, with some supporting the arrest.
“Freedom of speech is a right. But freedom without wisdom becomes recklessness. Titus Wekesa Sifuna is more than his mistakes. But his mistakes must teach him something. He will own them. He will grow from them.
“And herein lies a lesson for the rest of us: That accountability is not the end—it’s the beginning of wisdom. That being young is not a license for recklessness, but a call to responsibility,” Nairobi Women Representative Esther Passaris opined.
