Kenya High Court Suspends Sections of Contentious Cybercrimes Law

The contentious Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act was passed recently by the President and it sought to penalize against several vices. These included penalizing against the sharing of fake news, pornography, cyberterrorism and cybersquatting.

The Bloggers Association of Kenya (BAKE) is now reporting that a judge has given conservatory orders suspending several sections of the Act from coming into force.

Breaking: Justice Chacha Mwita gives conservatory orders suspending several sections of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act from coming into force including fake news provisions. pic.twitter.com/GLUIqNrFTh

— BAKE Kenya 🇰🇪 (@BakeKenya) May 29, 2018

The petition was for alleged contravention of rights and fundamental freedoms as guided by the Kenyan constitution. From the petition, the court provided the following statement:

“THAT pending the hearing and determination of this application inter partes, a conservatory order does issue suspending the coming into orce of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, 2018 and in particular the coming into force of Sections 5.16.17,22,23,24,27,28,29,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,48,49,50,51,52 & 53 of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, 2018.”

The sections suspended are 26 in total and 2 of which concern fake news (section 22 and 23). Judge Chacha Mwita has declared that the following sections are suspended until the case is heard:

Section 5 – Composition of the National Computer and Cybercrimes Coordination Committee
Section 16- Unauthorised interference
Section 17- Unauthorized interception
Section 22 – False publications
Section 23 – Publication of false information
Section 24- Child pornography
Section 27 – Cyber harassment
Section 28 – Cybersquatting
Section 29 – Identity theft and impersonation
Section 31 – Interception of electronic messages or money transfers
Section 32 – Willful misdirection of electronic messages
Section 33 – Cyber terrorism
Section 34 – Inducement to deliver electronic message
Section 35- Intentionally withholding message delivered erroneously
Section 36 – Unlawful destruction of electronic messages
Section 37- Wrongful distribution of obscene or intimate images.
Section 38- Fraudlent use of electronic data
Section 39- Issuance of false e-instructions
Section 40- Reportng of cyber threat
Section 41- Employee responsibility to relinquish access condes
Section 48 – Search and seizure of stored computer data
Section 49 – Record of and access to seized data
Section 50 – Production order
Section 51- Expedited preservation and partial disclosure of traffic data
Section 52 – Real-time collection of traffic data
Section 53- Interception of content data