By Brian Okoth

A gang armed with crude weapons has attacked the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) head office in the country's capital Nairobi, local media report.

The armed group stormed KHRC's office in the affluent neighbourhood of Lavington on Sunday, when a group of women was scheduled to address a press conference "demanding an immediate end to arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial killing of their children for taking to the streets", KHRC said on X.

The press conference, planned for 1:30pm local time (1030hrs GMT), had been organised by The Women's Collective Kenya, a grassroots rights movement.

"The gate (of KHCR head office) was locked but they (armed gang) forced themselves in. They were attacking and robbing guys, saying: 'You are planning protests here'," an AFP journalist said.

Planned 'saba saba' protests

There was no immediate police response to the reports of gang attack.

The botched press conference came one day to Monday, July 7 planned protests in the country in commemoration of the historic July 7, 1990 protests for democratic reforms in Kenya during the rule of then-President Daniel Moi.

In Kenya, the events of that day have been christened "saba saba" in Swahili language which is widely spoken in the East African nation, to mean "seven, seven", in relation to the seventh date of the seventh month of the year (July).

Earlier, KHRC said that its staff member, Martin Mavenjina, a senior legal adviser, had been "deported to Uganda."

KHRC vows to bring back deported employee

"He had arrived in Kenya at 10pm (local time) on Saturday following an official visit to South Africa. Mavenjina holds a valid work permit," KHRC said in a statement on Sunday, vowing to "bring Mavenjina back to Kenya."

"Since June 25, 2025, the regime (of President William Ruto) has been deliberately targeting human rights defenders, and Mavenjina's deportation is part of their strategy," KHRC added.

Kenyans held protests on June 25 to commemorate a year since the widespread anti-tax protests claimed at least 60 lives.

In the protests of June 25 this year, at least 16 people died, according to rights groups, but the government placed the death toll at 10.

KHRC is a non-governmental human rights organisation founded in 1992 and officially registered in 1994.