Azimio' Martha Karua corners DCI over misleading photos in protests lead by Raila

Azimio la Umoja leadership has taken the National Police Service (NPS) and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) head-on after the latter used misleading photos in its demand to have

In a terse statement released on Saturday, March 26, Narc Kenya party leader Martha Karua demanded an apology noting that the photos circulated by the DCI alleging to be of Monday protests were actually taken during past events, including from other countries.

Various fact-checks have confirmed that some of the photos circulated by the DCI were published online as far back as 2008, with one of them used by an international media house when reporting on protests in Burundi in 2015.

The Narc Kenya party leader opined that the DCI can no longer be trusted and questioned its intention of using the misleading photos, alleging that it is part of a wider plot to disrupt the protests by the Rala Odinga-led Azimio.

"DCI can no longer be trusted to police or investigate fairly after the deliberately misleading photos debacle exposed by the media.

"This confirms that the illegitimate regime used sections of the police & thugs to brutalize protesters last Monday and to cause destruction and are planning to do a repeat on Monday 27," Karua noted.

A collage image showing a photo that was used by Aljazeera reporting on protests in Burundi in 2015. The same image (R) as shared by DCI in the hunt for a section of those who took part in Monday protests. Pulse Live Kenya

READ: DCI exposed for using old photos, Burundi protests in hunt for Azimio demos suspects

She celebrated police officers who exercised restraint and even went a step further to caution their colleagues who wanted to use excessive force to break the demonstrations.

"We salute the many police officers who continue to maintain professionalism and to show great restraint while reminding the few bent on breaking the law instead of upholding it that they will be held to account individually,” Karua added.

DCI circulated photos of individuals with a request that they surrender to the nearest police station or DCI offices for their actions captured during protests, only for it to emerge that some of the photos were taken years back and used to report on events outside Kenya.

Azimio Protestors engage police officers in Eastleigh, Nairobi on Monday, March 24, 2023 Pulse Live Kenya

“The Directorate is currently on a manhunt for the suspects whose images appear below as others are being gathered and shall be updated, who will face charges ranging from robbery with violence, malicious damage to public property and assault among other allied offences," DCI's statement read.