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Originally published by Techish Kenyatech
February 18, 2026
1d ago
A new forensic report reveals how Israeli tech is fueling DCI’s crackdown on political dissent
A new forensic report by Canada-based Citizen Lab accuses Kenya's DCI of using Israeli firm Cellebrite’s forensic tools to unlock activist phones, raising fresh concerns over digital surveillance, political unrest, and civil liberties ahead of the 2027 elections...
✨ Key Highlights
A forensic investigation by Citizen Lab revealed that Kenyan authorities, specifically the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), used Israeli firm Cellebrite technology to bypass security on activist Boniface Mwangi’s phone while it was in police custody, raising concerns about digital surveillance and political dissent.
- Citizen Lab confirmed with “high confidence” that Kenyan authorities used Cellebrite technology to access Mwangi's Samsung device.
- The extraction, which occurred around July 20, 2025, potentially gave the state total access to Mwangi’s private data.
- This incident is part of a systemic escalation of state-sponsored surveillance, including the use of FlexiSPY spyware on filmmakers Bryan Adagala and Nicholas Wambugu.
- Amnesty International described this as “technology-facilitated violence,” aimed at mapping out "movement's DNA" before the 2027 elections.
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