Citizen-Shot Photographs Show Apparent Police Execution

Human rights activists in Kenya are calling for reforms to the country's law enforcement system after Kenya's largest newspaper published citizen-shot photographs showing what appears to be an extra-judicial execution by police in Nairobi.

Like the 2009 protests in Iran, this yet another example of how advances in personal technology are serving to keep governments across the world more accountable. One of the best things a third-world country like Kenya could do is institute protections for people like the photographer who took those pictures, to ensure that people who keep corrupt or brutal developing-world government officials accountable don't suffer repercussions for their efforts. Ideally, such protections would also include punishment for any government official who does try to punish a citizen like the one who took those photographs.

In completely unrelated news, Florida teen William Kilgore was arrested and jailed last week for videotaping police officers in the town of Tarpon Springs. When Kilgore's friend Tommy Frane pulled out his cell phone to record that arrest, Tarpon Springs police officers then confiscated his cell phone, too.

Also completely unrelated, as I pointed out over the weekend, over the next several months at least three people will go to trial in Illinois for recording police officers, including one woman who was arrested for recording her attempt to report an alleged sexual assault by a police officer. All face felony charges that carry 4-15 years in prison.