RUTO THREATENS COFFINS AFTER AI IMAGES OF HIM DEAD

The grim reaper is sweeping Kenyan social media - where a ‘funeral cortège’ of AI-generated images of a dead President William Ruto has gone viral. Some show him in a coffin, others in a hearse, and others still, burning in hell. It’s provoked a chilling reaction from the leader, who warned that “any youth placing someone inside a coffin will be the first to get into it” - which, while it got a laugh from the crowd he was addressing, is far from being a gag: it’s been widely taken as a threat in the context of the deadly crackdown his security forces have unleashed on Gen Z activists, especially since the mass anti-IMF protests that swept the country last year. They’ve been accused of abductions, torture and extra-judicial killings.

Sources:

https://citizen.digital/news/50-people-dead-413-injured-in-anti-finance-bill-protests-kenyan-rights-commission-reports-n345993

https://x.com/kakarezz/status/1877748260489551899/photo/2

https://x.com/i/status/1878872149173166543

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/12/28/africa/kenya-president-halt-abductions-critics-intl-latam/index.html 

https://mmsadvocates.co.ke/arrests-and-the-rights-of-arrested-persons-in-kenya/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/12/7/killing-of-pakistani-journalist-arshad-sharif-kenya-planned-assasination 

https://nation.africa/kenya/news/mystery-abducted-turkish-nationals-pressure-kenya-release-4798220

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/20/ugandan-opposition-politician-kidnapped-in-kenya-taken-to-military-jail 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd7dxz48e01o