Human rights activist Boniface Mwangi, who was arrested on Saturday, July 19, has seen the terrorism charges against him dropped by the prosecution.

Instead, Mwangi, who was arraigned at the Kahawa Law Courts on Monday morning, now faces two counts of possession of ammunition without a valid firearm certificate.

The revised charges allege that the activist was found in possession of three teargas canisters and one round of blank ammunition.

Count one of the charge sheet reads: “On July 19, 2025, at Mageuzi Hub in Nairobi County within the Republic of Kenya, you were found in possession of noxious substances, to wit, three teargas cannisters without lawful authority.”

The second count states:  “On July 19, 2025, at Mageuzi Hub in Nairobi County within the Republic of Kenya, you were found in possession of one round of 7.62×21mm blank ammunition without lawful authority.”

Mwangi’s arrest on Saturday by detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) stemmed from a raid on his Lukenya home. At the time, the DCI had stated that he was being questioned in connection with “facilitating terrorism.”

While confirming the arrest the following day, the DCI had initially claimed to have recovered a 7.62mm blank round and two unused teargas canisters – a discrepancy noted with the three teargas canisters mentioned in the current charge sheet.

Other items listed in the DCI’s initial report as recovered were nine assorted external hard drives, two laptops, company seals for Brave Media Ltd and Courage Ltd, a company stamp, six cheque books, and copies of stamp duty documents.

However, speaking outside Pangani Police Station on Sunday, Mwangi’s family and legal team, led by lawyer Njanja Maina, vehemently dismissed the DCI’s assertion that he had any terrorism materials in his possession.

“We have seen a statement by the DCI today that there are items that were picked from his office. We can confirm and state with no uncertainty that those are things which he did not have in his possession. So we do not know why they are coming up with terrorism charges,” Maina stated, disputing the initial claims.

The legal team further accused the DCI of bypassing an ex parte order, which had only been issued for the search of his offices, by also searching his residence without a specific warrant for the home.

“Boniface Mwangi was picked from his residence at around 4 pm and brought to his office, where officers had obtained an ex parte order. The search warrant was exclusive to his office, but we can also confirm that they searched his home. We don’t know why this was done, especially since there was no arrest warrant accompanying the order,” Maina relayed, raising questions about the legality of the entire operation.

Mwangi remains in custody at Pangani Police Station as legal proceedings continue.