DPP withdraws treachery charges against blogger Robert Alai

The Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Noordin Haji has today dropped treachery charges against blogger Robert Alai. Alai had been arrested in July 2019 and held for 14 days alongside prison warder Mr Patrick Safari for highlighting the improper handling of dead police officers whose vehicle run over an Improvised Explosive Device, in Wajir on his social media platforms.

The DPP will as well refund the cash bail amount that the blogger had paid for his release at the time.

Following his arrest, the blogger had been charged with two accounts: The first account involved, sharing photos of dead police officers via his WhatsApp platform, an act associated with interfering with the public order within the Republic of Kenya. The second count involved of disclosing information in the form of images of dead police officers to the public via his Twitter account, which according to the DPP were likely to interfere with investigations under the controversial anti-terrorism law.

The blogger through his lawyer, Paul Muite, had denied the above charges arguing that the rest of Kenyans had a right to information. In a quote, Mr Muite told the court, ‘People have a right to information and journalists have absolute rights to inform the public of what is happening within their surroundings.”

The blogger was later released on a cash bail of Ksh300,000.