Five Missing Kenyan Youths Freed Amid Uproar Over Abductions

Five young Kenyan men – including a popular cartoonist – who went missing just before the Christmas holidays have been found alive, family members and rights groups say. Kenya has been gripped by a wave of disappearances, with the state-funded rights group saying that over 80 people have been abducted in the last six months. The abductions generally target government critics and are widely believed to be the work of security agents, although the authorities have not admitted responsibility. They began in June last year during nationwide anti-tax protests, but increased in December, when AI-generated photos of the president in a coffin were widely shared. … Rights groups and other Kenyans have linked the abductions to a shadowy intelligence and counter-terrorism unit of the security forces.