Kenya: Man Arrested over Coronavirus Fake News
A 23-year-old man from Kenya has been arrested for allegedly spreading false information about the coronavirus.
Last Friday, 13 March, the Kenyan health ministry confirmed that a local woman who travelled from the United States of America via London, England, had been diagnosed with the disease. She is said to be quarantined at Mbagathi Hospital in Nairobi.
However, Elijah Muthui Kitonyo – who claimed to be a staff member at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport – recently accused the health ministry of lying about where the patient had travelled from.
Posting a photo of a Kenya Airways plane on Twitter, he wrote in the caption: “The said lady is called Millicent musau [sic] and she came yesterday from Rome boarded [sic] in this plane … am a staff at KQ s[sic] and I know what happened … Guys [sic] they are lying to us.”
Charged with spreading misinformation with the intent to cause panic, Kitonyo – if found guilty under the country’s 2018 Cyber Act – could face up to 10 years in prison, be fined over five million Kenyan shillings, or receive both punishments.
