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Kenya, November 12, 2026 - Nairobi lawyer Abshir Ahmedsadak Abdi has been found alive more than 700 kilometres from the capital, 12 days after armed men seized him in Kilimani. Herders discovered him early on Thursday in the Uran area of Sololo, Marsabit County. His family and the Law Society of Kenya confirmed the news later in the day.
In the early hours of November 1, around 4 a.m., Abdi was driving along Muchai Road off Ngong Road when two vehicles,a black Toyota Land Cruiser Prado TX and a double-cabin pickup,intercepted his white Toyota Premio. Armed men in tactical gear forced the car into a ditch.
Witnesses and CCTV footage later showed the lawyer trying to flee before the men overpowered him, forced him to kneel, and bundled him into one of the vehicles.His abandoned car was recovered and taken to Kilimani Police Station. A missing-person report followed.
Abdi’s companion that night, Ayub Mohamud Maalim, a 27-year-old from Mombasa, also disappeared and was later reported found in the same general area.On Thursday morning, around 5 a.m., local herders came across Abdi in Uran.
They first took him for a refugee fleeing trouble across the nearby Ethiopian border. Residents helped establish his identity after he gave them a family telephone number. Officers from Sololo Police Station collected him by about 9 a.m. and took him first to the station and then to Sololo Level Four Hospital for treatment.Abdi’s brother, Zachariah Abshir, received a call from an unknown number that morning and recognised his brother’s voice.
Abdi told him he had been dumped in Marsabit. The family advised him to remain with the police while they arranged to travel north. Law Society of Kenya President Charles Kanjama told journalists the reports had been verified with the family.
The family and the Law Society link the abduction to Abdi’s work as a complainant and key witness in a criminal case at Makadara Law Courts. Court papers and statements from his lawyer, Eric Theuri, described earlier threats and intimidation connected to that matter.
Abdi had been arrested and presented in court in October 2025 while investigators examined allegations of extortion and related offences. Police later told the High Court that Abdi may have been part of a network that used criminal processes for financial gain.
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Security officers maintained throughout that they did not hold him after November 1 and were investigating his disappearance. Justice Alexander Muteti, handling the family’s habeas corpus application, noted that Abdi had previously been in the constructive custody of police. That history, the judge said, placed a particular responsibility on the police and related agencies to explain what had happened to him.
The High Court in Milimani treated the family’s application as urgent. It ordered the Inspector General of Police, the Director of Criminal Investigations, the National Intelligence Service and other respondents to produce Abdi or account for his whereabouts. CCTV footage and photographs of the alleged abduction and earlier arrests were placed before the court.
The Law Society pressed for the summoning of senior security officials and kept public pressure on the case.By Thursday afternoon Abdi was receiving medical attention in Sololo. His lawyer described him as alive but said he had been tortured. Family members were travelling to Marsabit to collect him. Early reports indicated that Ayub Mohamud Maalim had also been located in the Sololo area. Police investigations into the abduction continue.
Abdi is expected to record a formal statement with police. Medical assessments will determine the extent of any injuries. The court process is likely to shift from questions of production to questions of accountability. The Law Society has said it will continue pressing until both men are safely home and those responsible are identified and held to account.
The case has sharpened public debate about enforced disappearances, the safety of advocates handling sensitive matters, and the conduct of specialised security units. Readers should watch for Abdi’s own account of the 12 days, any medical update, the formal police investigation findings, and any further court orders concerning senior officers.
Kenya has recorded several high-profile cases in which individuals linked to criminal investigations or sensitive litigation have disappeared. Courts have previously ordered security agencies to produce missing persons, most notably in the Willie Kimani matter. Abdi’s professional history and the manner of his seizure placed this case firmly within that pattern of concern. Sololo’s location close to the Ethiopian border added a further layer of complexity once he was dumped there.