Journalist Anne Soy, children arrested at KICC

Anne Soy, a journalist who works at the BBC offices in Nairobi was arrested under unclear circumstances.

The BBC Deputy Editor and Senior Africa Correspondent revealed that she had been arrested at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC).

“Still trying to understand why I’m under arrest with my kids,” she said on Twitter.

She was arrested alongside her husband Newton Ndebu, who also works at the BBC.

The journalist said she had attended the Kenya Homes Expo with her family and asked why security officers were checking bags as they were leaving.

The Expo brings together real estate stakeholders with potential and existing home owners.

Soy was reportedly told that attendees are checked to see if ‘they have stolen laptops’.

According to her, security guards at KICC took her into custody even after she told them that she had paid to get in and hadn’t stolen anything.

The journalist and her children were released two hours later.

“A quick update to say we’re all out now and are on our way home. We’ll debrief the kids before posting further details,” she said on Twitter.

This has now been resolved thanks to @KICC_kenya CEO @NanaGecaga’s intervention & assurance that she will look at the systems there to ensure that intimidation is not a default response to citizen queries about their rights.

— Newton Ndebu (@nndebu) October 11, 2019