On Feb. 22, Kenyan officials stopped Kagoro, the Africa director for Open Society Foundations, after he had already cleared immigration upon his arrival at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi. Authorities confiscated Kagoro’s phones and held him incommunicado while subjecting him to 14 hours of interrogation by intelligence officers. Kagoro was declared persona non grata and expelled from the country.
A Zimbabwean human rights lawyer who has lawfully resided in Kenya for extended periods of time, Kagoro was accused without evidence of being part of a coordinated network of international donors seeking to raise roughly $1.2 million to support protest movements against President William Ruto’s regime. Kagoro denied the accusation, saying he traveled to Kenya to attend a family function and participate in public discussions on policy issues.