On August 24, 2025, police in the western Kenyan town of Nyamira took reporter Evans Nyakundi into custody to serve a six-month sentence for contempt of court over an ongoing civil defamation case. He was held in western Kenya’s Kisii prison until September 16, 2025, when the courts reviewed his sentence and directed his release.
In February, Nyakundi published a report in the privately owned Weekly Citizen, alleging that Nyamira County’s chief finance officer, Asenath Maobe, was involved in corruption, according to court documents, reviewed by CPJ.
Maobe subsequently sued Nyakundi and the newspaper’s Headlink Publishers for defamation, although CPJ was unable to determine the exact date when the lawsuit was filed. In a March letter to Nyakundi and Headlink demanding a retraction of the reporting, which CPJ reviewed, Maobe's lawyers said the article was “outrightly false, malicious, obviously inaccurate, grossly misleading.”
On April 7, the High Court in Nyamira issued an injunction against Nyakundi, who publishes under the pseudonym Daniel Nyakundi. CPJ was unable to determine the exact nature of the injunction, but Nyakundi said in a court affidavit, reviewed by CPJ, that it barred him from “doing my normal journalistic work.”
On June 28, Nyakundi published another report in the Weekly Citizen about Maobe, reviewed by CPJ, which alleged she was involved in further illegal conduct, this time related to contractors.
On July 28, the High Court found Nyamira in contempt of court.
On August 22, Nyamira police wrote to the court to confirm the Nyakundi’s arrest order was valid before taking him into custody two days later, court documents show.
In an August 27 application for review of the sentence, Nyakundi and his lawyers said the journalist was not properly served with court documents, which meant he was not aware of the April injunction on reporting or the contempt of court application.
“Had I been aware of there being a case against me and court orders accordingly issued, I would have moved to seek legal advice and representation on how best to comply with said orders,” Nyakundi wrote in his affidavit, reviewed by CPJ.
A court process server said in a separate affidavit, reviewed by CPJ, that he sent the documents to the journalist’s WhatsApp account in July. He included screenshots of the messages, but it was not clear when they were delivered or if they were read.
Rule 22(C) of Kenya’s Civil Procedure Rules allows court documents to be served via “mobile-enabled messaging services” to a defendant's last known phone number if the “Sender receives a delivery receipt.”
After his release, Nyakundi told CPJ that his diabetes had become worse due to the poor prison diet and he was seeking treatment for swollen legs and deteriorating eyesight.
As of mid-October 2025, Nyakundi told CPJ that the defamation case was pending in court.
CPJ’s emailed requests for comment to Nyamira Country and Maobe’s legal counsel did not receive any replies.