Kenyan journalist Alex Kiprotich, an associate editor at The Standard, was abducted by armed men and held for approximately nine hours before being found near a dam.
Kiprotich was taken from a vehicle at around 9:20 p.m. on Tuesday on a road near the city of Nakuru, according to his employer.
Dashcam footage released by Standard Group showed a white, unmarked vehicle stopping in front of Kiprotich’s car at a single-lane bottleneck on the Gilgil-Nakuru highway.
Four men in civilian clothes, with their faces obscured and carrying firearms and what appeared to be baseball bats, emerged from the vehicle and seized Kiprotich.
Standard Group CEO Chaacha Mwita led the team that located Kiprotich near Masinga Dam, more than 200 kilometers southeast of where he was taken, at around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday.
The company said Kiprotich was “safe, though understandably shaken by his ordeal,” after being dumped by his captors in the early hours of the morning.
Standard Group stated that “the circumstances of Mr. Kiprotich’s abduction remain deeply troubling, and we will continue to press for full accountability.”
CEO Mwita had said late Tuesday that the “abduction bears all the hallmarks of a targeted attack on a journalist for doing his job,” pointing suspicion toward state actors.
The Standard is widely known for its critical coverage of President William Ruto’s government, and Kiprotich himself had reported narrowly escaping a previous kidnapping attempt in June.
That earlier incident came just three days after President Ruto publicly called out Standard Group on social media, raising concerns about a direct link between official pressure and physical threats.
Dozens of government critics and activists have been abducted in Kenya this year alone, with the practice accelerating following widespread anti-government protests in 2024.
Human rights organizations have accused state agencies of being responsible for many of these abductions, a pattern that Standard Group said mirrors the circumstances surrounding Kiprotich’s ordeal.
Kenya’s editors’ guild said it was “shocked, outraged and deeply perturbed” by the abduction, calling it “a disturbing escalation in the intimidation and targeting of journalists in Kenya.”
Amnesty International Kenya called for an independent investigation, warning that the incident raised “serious concerns for media freedom” across the country.
Kenyan police and government officials had not issued any comment on the incident at the time of publication, drawing further criticism from press freedom advocates.
