Kenyan police officer in charge of cell where blogger died arrested after protests

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenyan authorities on Friday arrested a senior police officer responsible for the cell where a blogger died, leading to widespread protests in the capital, Nairobi, that left dozens injured.

Samson Talam, the officer commanding the central police station in Nairobi was arrested on Friday, and the Independent Policing Oversight Authority said that CCTV at the police station had been tampered with and its disks formatted a day after the blogger died inside the cell.

Albert Ojwang, 31, was arrested on June 6 in western Kenya and driven 400 kilometers (248 miles) to Nairobi for what police said was publishing “false information” about a top police official on social media. He died two days later at the police cell and police said he hit his head against the wall. A pathologist’s report refuted the police account, stating that the deceased had “head injury, neck compression and other injuries spread all over the body that are pointing towards assault.”

The arrest comes a day after the detention of another officer from the central police station. James Mukhwana was arrested Thursday in connection with the blogger's death. He appeared in court Friday, where detectives requested for more time for their investigation.

Ojwang’s death led to protests on Thursday that turned violent as police clashed with protesters injuring several and leading a trail of property destruction.

President William Ruto on Friday said his government would “protect citizens from rogue police officers” and he called for investigations into Ojwang’s death.

Kenya has a history of police brutality and Ruto had vowed to end brutality and extrajudicial killings.

The blogger’s death comes almost a year after several activists and protesters were killed and abducted by Kenyan police during finance bill protests. The rallies led to calls for the removal of Ruto, who has been criticized for what some say is his authoritarian streak.

Riot police uses tear gas Thursday June 12, 2025 to disperse demonstrators during a protest over the death of blogger Albert Ojwang in police custody Nairobi, Kenya. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)

Riot police use water canons to disperse demonstrators during a protest over the death of blogger Albert Ojwang in police custody Thursday June 12, 2025, Nairobi, Kenya. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)

A woman overwhelmed by tear gas is carried away during a protest over the death of blogger Albert Ojwang in police custody, Thursday June 12, 2025, Nairobi, Kenya. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)

Riot police officers walk past cars set on fire during a protest over the death in police custody of blogger Albert Ojwang, in Nairoby, Kenya, Thursday, June 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)

A protester scuffles with the police during a protest over the death in police custody of blogger Albert Ojwang, in Nairobi, Kenya, Thursday, June 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Andrew Kasuku)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Nicaragua’s Interior Ministry said Saturday the country would release dozens of prisoners, as the United States ramped up pressure on leftist President Daniel Ortegaa week after it ousted former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

On Friday, the U.S. Embassy in Nicaragua said Venezuela had taken an important step toward peace by releasing what it described as “political prisoners.” But it lamented that in Nicaragua, “more than 60 people remain unjustly detained or disappeared, including pastors, religious workers, the sick, and the elderly.”

On Saturday, the Interior Ministry said in a statement that “dozens of people who were in the National Penitentiary System are returning to their homes and families.”

It wasn’t immediately clear who was freed and under what conditions. Nicaragua’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The government has been carrying out an ongoing crackdown since mass social protests in 2018, that were violently repressed.

Nicaragua’s government has imprisoned adversaries, religious leaders, journalists and more, then exiled them, stripping hundreds of their Nicaraguan citizenship and possessions. Since 2018, it has shuttered more than 5,000 organizations, largely religious, and forced thousands to flee the country. Nicaragua’s government often accused critics and opponents of plotting against the government.

In recent years, the government has released hundreds of imprisoned political opponents, critics and activists. It stripped them of Nicaraguan citizenship and sent them to other countries like the U.S. and Guatemala. Observers have called it an effort to wash its hands of its opposition and offset international human rights criticism. Many of those Nicaraguans were forced into a situation of "statelessness."

Saturday on X, the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs again slammed Nicaragua’s government. “Nicaraguans voted for a president in 2006, not for an illegitimate lifelong dynasty,” it said. “Rewriting the Constitution and crushing dissent will not erase the Nicaraguans’ aspirations to live free from tyranny.”

Danny Ramírez-Ayérdiz, executive-secretary of the Nicaraguan human rights organization CADILH, said he had mixed feelings about the releases announced Saturday.

“On the one hand, I’m glad. All political prisoners suffer some form of torture. But on the other hand, I know these people will continue to be harassed, surveilled and monitored by the police, and so will their families.”

Ramírez-Ayérdiz said the liberation of the prisoners is a response to pressure exerted by the United States. “There is surely a great deal of fear within the regime that the U.S. might completely dismantle it,” he said.

FILE - Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega waves after attending the swearing-in ceremony of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro for a third term at the National Assembly in Caracas, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)