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Heckler who shouted ‘rest in hell’ at former Kenyan president Moi’s funeral? No, photo from 2008

On 11 February 2020 a man was arrested for causing a disturbance at the funeral of former Kenyan president Daniel arap Moi.

Moi was president from 1978 to 2002. He died on 4 February, and his funeral was held at the Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi.

It was later reported that the arrested man wasn’t a security threat, but had tried to gain access to the VIP platform to ask current president Uhuru Kenyatta for a job.

The incident was caught on live TV. Moments later, two photos were posted on Facebook. One is a screengrab of the TV report. The second shows a scuffle between men in suits.

The photos are captioned: “Nyayo stadium idiot ,heckler who shouted Rest in hell dictator facing the real music. #Choiceshaveconsequences.”

Does the second photo really show what happened at Moi’s funeral?



Photo 12 years old


A Google image search for the photo returns several results about a Kenyan activist, Fredrick Odhiambo. He was arrested by a presidential security team for heckling in December 2008.

A search for “Fredrick Odhiambo arrested” brings up a slightly different image, headlined “Fred Odhiambo arrested and gagged at Nyayo Stadium”. It was published by the Standard newspaper on 13 December 2008.

We found the identical photo on a Daily Nation article titled “Intruder who cut short Kibaki”.

Here the caption reads: “Presidential security detail arrests Mr Frederick Odhiambo, a political activist, shortly after he shouted at President Mwai Kibaki, who was making a speech at the Nyayo National Stadium, during this year’s Jamhuri Day celebrations.”

The photo, taken on 12 December 2008, is credited to Peterson Githaiga.

And there is no evidence that the man arrested at Moi’s funeral shouted “Rest in hell dictator.” – Dancan Bwire




 

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