Human rights activist Collins Otieno has been rescued from an unknown whereabouts after he disappeared earlier this week following reports from rights’ defender Hussein Khalid who confirmed finding him along Thika Road and later taken to hospital. The Chief Executive Officer of Vocal Africa, Hussein Khalid, revealed that the activist was located around 4:30am on Saturday, September 26, by a boda boda driver who found him along Thika Road and brought him to the nearest hospital.

“Comrade Collins Otieno has been found. He was dumped along Thika Road. A good samaritan boda boda driver found him around 4.30am and took him to hospital,” Khalid tweeted.

According to Khalid, the activist was in a weak, disoriented, and injured state when he was discovered. He was taken to Neema Uhai Hospital in the Kasarani area for treatment.

“Like comrade Muteti, Collins is disoriented, weak and injured. He is presently at Neema Uhai Hospital around kasarani receiving treatment.,” Khalid said.

The disappearance of the activists started on Monday, September 21, when fellow rights’ defender Boniface Mulinge Muteti went missing after protests in Nairobi’s Central Business District. Based on reports by human rights activists, Otieno was attempting to file a complaint concerning Muteti’s mysterious disappearance while asking for help in finding him before he was also reported missing. On Friday, September 25, Muteti was found in Lukenya area, Machakos County, and was taken to hospital after he was discovered in a weak, injured, and disoriented state.

The two cases have attracted the attention of human rights groups, especially as both activists were involved in protests over the continued detention of Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye. Otieno was one of the activists arrested in Nairobi’s CBD during the September 21 protests.

While Khalid said Otieno had been “dumped” along Thika Road, the circumstances in which he arrived there and events that occurred while he was missing are not independently established. There was also no immediate public statement from the police regarding Otieno’s whereabouts before he was found or whether he was in the custody of any security agency. The latest development comes a day after Muteti was also found alive after days of uncertainty over his location. Muteti later spoke from hospital about the ordeal he said he underwent, alleging those who took him had questioned him about his activism. Those allegations have not been independently established.

For now, Otieno remains under medical care at Neema Uhai Hospital as his family, colleagues and rights organisations seek more information on the circumstances around his disappearance and recovery. Authorities have yet to publicly explain what occurred to the activist during the period he was unaccounted for.