Kenyan Activist Boniface Mwangi Not in Hospital. Viral Photos Old, Not Related to 2024 Anti-Government Demonstrations

13 August 2024
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Dancan Bwire

Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi not in hospital. Viral photos old, not related to 2024 anti-government demonstrations

Two photos showing Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi seemingly injured and in hospital have been posted on social media. Users claimed they were "recent", sparking speculation that they could be the result of Kenyan police brutality. But the photos were taken in 2015.

Two photos showing Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi lying on a hospital bed with his face swollen and bandaged are circulating on social media in Kenya.

Users who posted them claimed that they were "recent" and wanted to know what had happened to him. Others claimed that he had gone mad.

Some users commenting on the photos were quick to raise the possibility of police brutality. They suggested that he may have been "arrested and tortured" by the police, resulting in the "injuries".

The posts come just days after Mwangi deactivated some of his social media accounts.

Mwangi has been at the forefront of the anti-government protests that began on 18 June 2024. They were sparked by the unpopular 2024 Finance Bill, which included controversial tax hike proposals.

The demonstrations continued even after Ruto withdrew the bill and sacked almost his entire cabinet. They have since shifted to demanding better governance and Ruto's resignation.

Kenyan police have been accused of killing dozens of demonstrators and abducting many others.

In July, Mwangi and other activists were arrested and charged over the demonstrations.

But are the photos of Mwangi recent and related to the ongoing unrest? We checked.

Photos old, taken after surgery

A reverse image search of the photos reveals that they are old and unrelated to the ongoing demonstrations in 2024.

We found that Mwangi posted the photos on his verified Facebook page on 7 November 2015. In the post, he said he used to "snore so badly" and had surgery to open his nose and remove his tonsils and adenoids.

"I went into the theatre at 4pm and left at 8pm, four hours later. The procedure went very well," he said, while also revealing some of the difficulties that followed the operation.

The local media also reported this and published the photos.

The photos are old and are not related to the ongoing anti-government protests in 2024.

Read the original story, with links and other resources.
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