Kenya is facing renewed scrutiny over the treatment of Zimbabwean lawyer and Open Society Foundations Africa Managing Director Brian Kagoro after he was denied...
Kenya is facing renewed scrutiny over the treatment of Zimbabwean lawyer and Open Society Foundations Africa Managing Director Brian Kagoro after he was denied entry into the country for a second time despite a High Court order allowing him to return.
Kagoro was due to travel to Kenya last week to meet his lawyers and attend proceedings connected to his earlier deportation. However, he was removed from a Nairobi-bound flight while it was in Ethiopia, preventing him from continuing his journey to Kenya.
The development has prompted the Open Society Foundations to question Kenya’s commitment to the rule of law, saying the latest denial appeared to disregard a court order. The foundation said the High Court had issued an order in June directing authorities to permit Kagoro to travel to Kenya pending the outcome of a case concerning his deportation.
The High Court has since directed Attorney General Dorcas Oduor to explain why Kagoro was denied entry despite the existing court order. The court gave Oduor 14 days to provide an explanation.
The latest dispute follows Kagoro’s first denial of entry in February 2026. He arrived at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi and was detained for more than 10 hours before being denied entry and returned to Johannesburg. Open Society said at the time that he was questioned by national intelligence officers and that no formal charges or written reasons for the denial were provided.
The circumstances surrounding the February incident led several legal and human rights organisations to challenge the deportation. The Pan African Lawyers Union, East Africa Law Society, Law Society of Kenya and the Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists were among the organisations involved in the legal challenge.
According to Open Society, allegations had circulated that Kagoro and the organisation were involved in financing or coordinating political unrest in Kenya. The foundation has rejected those allegations, saying it does not fund or organise political protests and that no evidence had been presented to support claims that Kagoro was involved in financing or coordinating political unrest.
Open Society has also maintained that Kagoro has never been charged with or convicted of a criminal offence. The organisation said the handling of his case raised concerns about transparency and due process and argued that the second denial of entry prevented him from meeting his lawyers and attending proceedings related to his case.
The June court order was issued after the legal challenge to Kagoro’s deportation. Reporting by Kenyan media said the High Court’s Constitutional and Human Rights Division issued conservatory orders protecting Kagoro against arbitrary denial of entry while the petition remained pending.
The second denial has also drawn attention from civil society and human rights organisations concerned about the treatment of human rights actors in Kenya. The case has been discussed alongside the July 2025 deportation of Martin Mavenjina, a senior legal adviser at the Kenya Human Rights Commission, which the commission linked to concerns over civic space and the treatment of human rights defenders.
For now, the High Court’s order requiring the Attorney General to explain the second denial places the circumstances of Kagoro’s latest blocked return before the court. The 14-day period gives Oduor an opportunity to provide the court with an explanation for the decision.
