Standard Group editor abducted on Gilgil-Nakuru road in suspected state-linked attack

The second targeting of Alex Kiprotich in two months has drawn direct accusations from Kenya’s oldest media group against elements within the government — and an unequivocal demand for his safe return.

By MKT Reporter

The Standard Group yesterday night confirmed the abduction of its Associate Editor Alex Kiprotich along the Gilgil-Nakuru road, issuing a sweeping statement that holds the Kenyan state directly responsible for his safety and accuses elements within the government of orchestrating a targeted campaign against one of the country’s most prominent journalists.

Kiprotich was seized shortly before 9:20pm on Monday as he travelled toward Nakuru. The Standard Group said it did not know his whereabouts at the time of issuing the statement, signed by Group Chief Executive Officer Chaacha Mwita.

The abduction is the second time in two months that Kiprotich has been targeted. On June 27, 2026, armed men travelling in a Toyota Probox — a vehicle model that human rights organisations and press freedom groups have repeatedly linked to enforced disappearances of government critics in Kenya — attempted to seize him from his car as he drove to work in Nakuru. He escaped by locking his doors and driving away. That attempt came days after President William Ruto publicly criticised The Standard Group over its coverage of his administration. The Group said its own investigations traced the vehicle involved in that June attempt to the National Police Service’s Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau. No one has been held accountable.

“Tonight, that threat has been carried out,” the Standard Group said in its statement. “We do not believe this is a coincidence.”

The language from Kenya’s oldest media group was as direct as any press statement issued by a Kenyan media organisation in recent memory. The Group said the abduction bore all the hallmarks of a targeted attack on a journalist for doing his job and stated its belief that it may be linked to elements within the state seeking to silence the newsroom. Kiprotich has led significant editorial output at the Group, including reporting that has scrutinised government conduct at the highest levels.

“If that is confirmed, this is not simply a crime against one man,” the Group said. “It is an assault on the Constitution of Kenya, on the freedoms of expression and of the media guaranteed under Articles 33 and 34, and on the right of every Kenyan to independent information.”

The statement made three explicit demands: the immediate, safe and unconditional release of Kiprotich; a prompt, transparent and independent investigation into the abduction and into why no one was ever held accountable for the June 27 attempt; and concrete, visible guarantees that journalists in Kenya will be protected — consistent with public commitments the President has already made and, the Group argued, has so far failed to honour.

The Standard Group called on the Independent Policing Oversight Authority, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, the Law Society of Kenya, the Media Council of Kenya, the Committee to Protect Journalists and all who value press freedom to demand answers publicly until Kiprotich is found safe.

The abduction lands at a fraught moment for press freedom in Kenya. The country has seen a sustained pattern of intimidation against journalists critical of the government, with arrests, harassment and equipment seizures documented by both local and international press freedom organisations in recent years. The Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders have repeatedly flagged Kenya’s deteriorating media environment, even as the government has maintained publicly that it supports a free press.

President Ruto’s administration has made several high-profile statements affirming commitment to media freedom. The Standard Group’s accusation that those commitments have not been honoured — and its willingness to name the state directly in the context of a journalist’s disappearance — represents an extraordinary escalation of the tension between Kenya’s oldest daily newspaper and the current government.

Kiprotich’s case also raises urgent questions about the June incident that have never been satisfactorily answered. If the vehicle used in that first attempt was indeed traceable to a law enforcement intelligence unit, as the Group has alleged, the failure to investigate and prosecute those responsible amounts to institutional impunity — one that, on the evidence of last night, may have emboldened whoever ordered the second attempt.

“The Standard Group holds the State responsible for Alex Kiprotich’s safety and his life, and for anything that happens to him while he remains missing,” the Group said. “Protecting the life and liberty of every citizen is the State’s first duty, not an afterthought.”

As of the time of publication, Kiprotich’s whereabouts remain unknown.

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