KENYA’S high court has ordered the government to end its shutdown of the country’s top three TV stations after they tried to broadcast images of the opposition leader’s mock inauguration.
The government is continuing its investigation into those behind the “treasonous” event in Nairobi on Tuesday, in which Raila Odinga declared himself “the people’s president”.
Journalists and human rights groups have raised an outcry over the shutdown of live transmissions. Some journalists have revealed they spent the night in their newsroom to avoid arrest.
Opposition leader Odinga declared himself “the people’s president” in protest over President Uhuru Kenyatta’s election win last year, in a ceremony attended by tens of thousands of supporters in the capital. Odinga claims the vote was rigged and that pledged electoral reforms in the East African nation have not been made.
The government responded to Odinga’s “swearing-in” by declaring the opposition movement a criminal organisation and investigating ceremony “conspirators”. An opposition representative who stood beside Odinga and wore judicial dress during the ceremony has been arrested, his lawyer said.
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