Kenyan police detained a third opposition legislator who attended a symbolic “swearing-in” of opposition leader Raila Odinga in a direct challenge to President Uhuru Kenyatta, who won re-election in October.
Government made several arrests and suspended three television channels planning to stream last Tuesday’s event.
“George Aladwa was arrested at his house and is being held at the headquarters of the Directorate of Criminal Investigation,” his lawyer Nelson Havi told Reuters.
“He was interrogated in connection with the oath taken by Kenyan main opposition leader Raila Odinga as the people’s president,” he said. A police spokesman was not aware of his detention.
The arrest follows that of opposition politician Miguna Miguna, detained in a dawn raid on his Nairobi home on Friday and another opposition leader a day earlier.
Miguna was released on bail of 50,000 Kenyan shillings ($500).
Miguna stood beside Odinga at Tuesday’s rally and declared himself the “general” of Odinga’s National Resistance Movement, which authorities have designated a “criminal group” because of its stated intent to establish a parallel government.
Kenya’s ban on three private television stations defied a court order. The media crackdown was criticised by the United Nations and the United States.
The arrests and broadcast bans have shocked many Kenyans used to a freewheeling media and irreverent political culture that has taken root since 2002.
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