Kenyan Standard’s Alex Kiprotich seized by armed men after escaping earlier attack

Nairobi, September 4, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Kenyan authorities to ensure a credible investigation into Tuesday’s seizure of Standard Group editor Alex Kiprotich by armed men whom local media allege were police officers.

The five-hour incident followed a similar attack on June 27, when Kiprotich’s car was intercepted by men with guns but he managed to drive off before they got inside the vehicle.

“Kenyan authorities have failed spectacularly in their duty to protect Alex Kiprotich, despite clear evidence he remained at risk after escaping another kidnapping attempt just two months ago,” said CPJ Africa Program Director Angela Quintal. “This brazen attack demands an immediate, independent and credible investigation, including into allegations of police involvement. Anything less will deepen concerns that President William Ruto’s government is enabling impunity for attacks on journalists and critics.”

On Wednesday, police spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga said the Inspector General of Police had “ordered immediate investigations to determine what transpired, including the identity of the heavily armed individuals.” He said a recently created Anti-Abduction Unit would ensure justice.

Chaacha Mwita, Group CEO of the Standard Group, told CPJ that the media group’s company car was blocked by a white Subaru on a highway to the central city of Nakuru at around 9:20 p.m. on September 1 by four masked men, armed with assault rifles, who dragged Kiprotich into their vehicle. Mwita said the men questioned Kiprotich about his journalism and sources before abandoning him at around 3 a.m. in a “thicket” about 230 kilometers southeast, near Masinga Dam, telling the journalist to lie face down and not look up until he was told to do so.

The Standard, one of Kenya’s largest news outlets, has been sharply critical of Ruto’s administration ahead of elections in 2027. The Standard Group’s KTN News said it believed Kiprotich, who had been “at the forefront” of its reporting, had been “targeted” in an attack that “may be linked to elements of the state seeking to intimidate this group into silence.”

The Standard reported that it had identified one of the assailants from the car’s dashboard camera footage as a police officer with the Operation Support Unit, citing an unnamed source. It said the Subaru’s registration number plate initially showed that the car was government-owned, but by the evening of September 2 official online records had changed to link the registration to a privately owned Honda. Citizen TV also reported that the same “shadowy unit” of the police was involved in the attack.

KTN reported that the Kiprotich’s assailants also asked him about Gideon Moi, an opposition politician and son of former President Daniel Arap Moi, whose family owns the Standard Group. 

One assailant tried to pull Kiprotich’s driver out of the vehicle but his seatbelt made it difficult so he snatched two phones and left, The Standard reported.

“This is really, really a sad thing to happen in a country like Kenya, that says it is a free country, that it respects freedom of the media and freedom of journalists to do their work as guaranteed in the constitution,” Mwita said in a media interview.

The men also took Kiprotich’s wallet and 6,000 shillings (US$47), Mwita told CPJ.

On Thursday, police spokesperson Nyaga told CPJ via messaging app that the Anti-Abduction Unit was the “appropriate team” to give “feedback” when ready but declined to provide contact information.