Citizen Lab Finds Cellebrite Tool Used on Kenyan Activist’s Phone in Police Custody
The Citizen Lab has discovered evidence that Kenyan authorities broke into a well-known dissident's phone using a commercial forensic extraction tool made by the Israeli business Cellebrite. This is the most recent instance of technology misuse that targets civil society.
The signs were discovered on the personal phone of Boniface Mwangi, a Kenyan pro-democracy activist who has declared his intention to run for president in 2027, according to the interdisciplinary research team at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy.
In particular, it has come to light that his Samsung phone, which was in police custody after his arrest in July 2025, was utilized using Cellebrite's forensic extraction tools.
When the phone was given back to him in Septemb...
