DCI Bows To Court Directive On Posting Suspect’s Mugshots

Kagunduini Ward MCA Peter Mburu Muthoni was arrested today by officers in Muranga for among other things-making a document without authority. The MCA defrauded his victim almost Ksh.3M with the false pretence that he could offer her a tender to supply ballast to a Chinese company pic.twitter.com/HnroZcrH1T

— DCI KENYA (@DCI_Kenya) April 1, 2019

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has been ignoring an order by the High Court barring the then Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet and DCI boss George Kinoti’s office from posting mugshots of suspects on social media before they are arraigned in court.

The public which is well informed of the court directive has been raising a myriad of questions as to why the DCI office is adamant to obey the law.

However, for the last 11 days, there has been a change. Seems that the DCI has decided to obey the law and listen to public pleas. For instance use of Handcuffs to represent arrested suspects. See below

17members of the outlawed #MombasaRepublicCouncil aged btn 41yrs & 84yrs were arrested early today in Diani. The suspects were nabbed as they assembled at a house in Kibundani area. Membership registers & contributions confiscated-to be arraigned before Kwale Law Courts tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/C4Xlx4ba2x

— DCI KENYA (@DCI_Kenya) April 2, 2019

On several occasions, the DCI office has been using a generic picture instead of the photos of the arrested suspects.

CONTEMPT OF COURT

In December, High Court Judge Wilfrida Okwany issued the orders after Bunge la wananchi activist Mr. Shitanda, sought to have the two institutions stopped from posting suspects’ photos on social media.

In his petition, Mr Shitanda argued that posting of suspects’ photos online before they are charged in court is an infringement of their rights.

The DCI and the National Police Service have been sharing photos of suspects online following arrests, which appears to have been stopped