Alex Kiprotich, associate editor of The Standard media group, was seized by masked men around 9:00 pm (1800 GMT) on Tuesday after his vehicle was stopped on a road near Nakuru town in central Kenya, his employer said.

He was found nine hours later hundreds of kilometres away, it added.

In a statement late Tuesday, the Standard said the “abduction bears all the hallmarks of a targeted attack on a journalist for doing his job”.

“We believe it may be linked to elements within the State seeking to intimidate this Group into silence,” it added.

Kiprotich said in June that he narrowly escaped a previous attempt to kidnap him, which came three days after President William Ruto had launched a tirade against The Standard on social media.

“Your STANDARD media’s 5 days a week EXTORTIONIST propaganda HEADLINES on me and my administration’s transformative track record will get you NOTHING and NOWHERE,” Ruto posted on X on June 24.

The Kenya Editors Guild said they were “shocked, outraged and deeply perturbed” by Tuesday’s abduction, describing it as “a disturbing escalation in the intimidation and targeting of journalists in Kenya”.

Amnesty International Kenya said the incident raised “serious concerns for media freedom” and called for an independent investigation.

The police have frequently denied involvement in abductions, which peaked in the months after a major protests in June-July 2024.

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights released a report on Monday, saying there had been at least 46 enforced disappearances in 2026 alone, with 11 recorded incidents of anti-government protesters being “held incommunicado and… subjected to torture and ill-treatment.”

Ruto has acknowledged that abductions took place but vowed in May last year to stop them, saying an “accountability mechanism” would bring those responsible to justice — though no action has since been taken.

rbu/er/jxb