City photographer, once suspected of terrorism, goes missing
A Kenyan blogger and photographer, who was last year arrested at a shopping mall in Nairobi on suspicion of being a terrorist, has gone missing.
Msingi Sasis Bekko, who runs www.nairobinoir.com, had last Friday recounted on Facebook about his arrest at Galleria Mall, Karen, for taking pictures at night at the facility.
On Monday, renowned activist Boniface Mwangi, who is also a photographer, tweeted about Msingi’s disappearance.
Family,friends and colleagues of @MsingiSasis are looking for him.He went silent after this post. Msingi get intouch pic.twitter.com/EDnUZ4Eo9W
— Boniface Mwangi (@bonifacemwangi) May 10, 2016
Msingi had taken to his Facebook page – after his arrest in April 2015 and subsequent detention at Lan’gata police station – to claim that the incident had left him jobless since his clients fear engaging him in any business.
“It has become nearly impossible for me sell any art or get any meaningful work as almost no one, both individuals and organisations, are willing to do a financial transaction or even be involved with a ‘terror suspect’. A ‘terror suspect’ is what my life has been in the past one year,” Bekko wrote on Facebook.
“This week auctioneers seized everything in my studio. Every valuable thing they placed their hands on. All my cameras, computers, printers, other equipment, and anything that can quickly be sold including hard drives that had every work I have ever created. It’s all gone,” said Bekko.
The photographer, who blogs on Nairobi night life, further laments he risks spending nights on the same streets from where he once used to make a living for defaulted rent payment.