NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 12— Amnesty International Kenya has demanded urgent guarantees for the safety, physical integrity, and access to medical care of businessman Athorbey Al-Gaddhaffy Dit, a Kenyan–South Sudanese citizen who was reportedly abducted in Nairobi early Wednesday and unlawfully deported to South Sudan, where he is allegedly being held at a military detention facility in Juba.
The rights organisation said it had received credible information that Dit, also known as Gadafi Athorbey Guet, was forcibly taken by armed, masked individuals at about 3am before being moved out of the country in a case it described as bearing the hallmarks of an enforced disappearance.
Amnesty International Kenya warned that the alleged abduction and removal of Dit amounted to a grave violation of both Kenyan and international law, insisting that no person should be held incommunicado, denied access to legal counsel, or removed from the country outside the due process of law.
“We have received credible information that Athorbey Al-Gaddhaffy-Dit (Gaddafi Athorbey), abducted in Nairobi on 10 June 2026, was unlawfully deported to South Sudan and is currently being held at a military detention facility in Juba,” Amnesty International said.
“We demand: Guarantees of his safety, physical integrity, and access to medical care, immediate and unhindered access to his family and legal representatives.”
Amnesty also demanded a prompt, independent, and transparent investigation by Kenyan authorities into the circumstances surrounding the alleged abduction, and accountability for all individuals and entities involved, regardless of rank or affiliation.
George Morara, section director at Amnesty International Kenya, said the treatment of Dit would be unacceptable even if authorities suspected him of any offence, stressing that the only lawful route would be through the justice system.
“If Mr. Dit is suspected of any offense, the only lawful course of action is through Kenya’s justice system—not through abduction, incommunicado detention, and deportation,” the organisation said in an earlier statement on June 10.
Neither the Kenyan government nor security agencies had publicly responded to the allegations by the time of publication.
The case has triggered fresh scrutiny over alleged enforced disappearances, the conduct of security agencies, and the protection of constitutional rights, with Amnesty warning that any unlawful detention or deportation would amount to a serious breach of Kenya’s human rights obligations.
