Israeli Firm Cellebrite Accused of Hacking Kenyan Opposition Figure Boniface Mwangi’s Phone

Citizen Lab revealed last week that the mobile phone of Boniface Mwangi, a photojournalist, prominent opposition activist and candidate in Kenya’s 2027 presidential election, had been hacked using a system developed by the Israeli company Cellebrite. According to the source, authorities seized Mwangi’s phone when they arrested him in July 2025 over his involvement in protests against the government of President William Ruto. The source says the protests erupted in response to violence by security forces, including extrajudicial killings, as well as the government’s widespread corruption.

Cellebrite said it works to prevent the misuse of its technology and invited anyone making such claims to contact the company directly with substantiated evidence. The source reports that the company did not announce any changes to its operations in Kenya. It describes the alleged involvement of a private Israeli company in the persecution of Kenya’s opposition as part of a wider shift in Israel’s role in internal repression, from activities carried out mainly by official state bodies and government-owned companies to operations by private firms working under licenses issued by the Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs. The source argues that the use of private companies obscures responsibility. It also notes that Israel did not revoke Cellebrite’s operating license in Kenya after the Citizen Lab investigation.

The source draws on Israeli Foreign Ministry files from the 1980s concerning relations with the authoritarian regime of Daniel arap Moi, which were opened to the public over the past two years. It says the Mossad was the central actor in these relations and that its files remain classified, but that the Foreign Ministry records offer insight into the interests and patterns of conduct involved. In a report dated June 4, 1980, Aryeh Oded, head of Israel’s Interests Office in Kenya, which operated out of the Danish Embassy in Nairobi, wrote that Israel had maintained significant economic and security activities in Kenya despite the severing of diplomatic relations in 1973. Oded also pointed to the continued presence of Israeli military experts. In a cable sent on December 28, 1980, Foreign Ministry director-general David Kimche described Kenya as among the most important African countries for Israel, citing an El Al branch, layovers for flights to South Africa, a Mossad station, and defense and other exports worth tens of millions of dollars.

According to the source, Moi allowed Israel to carry out activities on Kenyan soil that many other African leaders had refused. Unlike others who occasionally received ad hoc advice or services from the Mossad, Moi permitted the agency to operate a permanent station coordinating its operations across East Africa. The source adds that the El Al route through Nairobi provided Israel’s only independent direct link to the apartheid regime in South Africa. In a cable dated February 24, 1980, the Israeli Embassy in Washington reported that Moi had mentioned his frequent contact with a Mossad operative in Nairobi. A follow-up cable sent on June 3, 1980, recorded a suggestion by the Mossad representative in Kenya to use this relationship to “stir suspicions in Kenya toward the Arabs, including regarding the president’s personal security.”

Foreign Ministry cables described Moi’s regime as a one-party, corrupt government that persecuted and arrested critics on the basis of unfounded accusations. A Foreign Ministry review prepared on February 1, 1981, nonetheless said the Mossad’s position in Nairobi was “strong and growing” and noted that security cooperation included equipment exports and the training of personnel in Israel. The source reports that an attempted coup led by Air Force officers on August 1, 1982, took Israel by surprise, since it had considered Moi’s regime one of the most stable in Africa. In a review prepared on August 23, 1982, David Sultan, who had replaced Oded as head of the Interests Office, wrote that “Moi’s regime does not enjoy public support” and would increasingly have to rely on coercive measures.

The source describes the repression that followed the coup in detail, based on the cables. Authorities closed Kenya’s major universities on what the source calls unfounded claims of student involvement in the coup attempt. Thousands were arrested, including Air Force personnel, students, university lecturers, journalists, politicians, intellectuals and civil servants. The source says many detainees were reportedly tortured during interrogations and that the cables documented looting by military and police personnel. The Israeli Foreign Ministry estimated that hundreds of civilians had been killed. Those who cannot protect themselves deserve advocates who will speak for them (Proverbs 31:8-9).

According to the source, Mossad assessments dated August 27 and October 26, 1982, warned that the repression could backfire, with a campaign to purge government institutions risking “personal score-settling among political rivals.” The Mossad concluded that the regime would continue to rely on Israel to strengthen oversight of the armed forces and opposition figures and to bolster the security apparatus. The source reports that the Foreign Ministry welcomed the suppression of the uprising, stating that the rise of leftist forces, which it described as anti-Israel, would have harmed Kenya-Israel relations. In a meeting with a Mossad representative on May 20, 1983, Moi reportedly said he spoke more openly with Israeli intelligence than with representatives of several other countries. In a cable sent on January 26, 1984, Avi Primor, director of the Africa Department at the Foreign Ministry, wrote that Israel was assisting Moi’s Presidential Guard. In April 1986, the head of Kenya’s military intelligence visited Israel, and in October the head of the IDF Operations Directorate traveled to Kenya for meetings with senior military leaders.

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