Kenyan employee sentenced to three years in Saudi Arabia
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Tuko
Kevin Mugambi Gitari, an employee of the labour department at Kenya’s embassy in Riyadh, is serving a three-year prison sentence in Saudi Arabia for transporting alcohol belonging to two diplomats who have not claimed it. His supporters have receipts, CCTV images and an audio recording, according to Tuko.
Kevin Mugambi Gitari, a junior employee at Kenya’s embassy in Riyadh, is serving a three-year prison sentence in Saudi Arabia after being convicted of transporting alcohol. Two Kenyan diplomats, Linah Lumidi and Charles Oure, allegedly gave him the bottles on 16 June 2026 to transport them in his vehicle, according to people campaigning for his release and reported by Tuko.
Saudi authorities reportedly asked Kenya’s ambassador in Riyadh for a letter confirming that the alcohol belonged to the two diplomats. The ambassador allegedly refused to provide this confirmation, leaving Kevin Mugambi Gitari to answer alone for possession and transportation of the products before the Saudi courts, according to Tuko.
Kevin Mugambi Gitari’s family and supporters say they have purchase receipts, CCTV images showing the handover of the alcohol and an audio recording in which Linah Lumidi and Charles Oure allegedly acknowledge ownership of it. They are calling on Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, particularly the State Department for Diaspora Affairs, to investigate the conduct of the two diplomats and intervene in the case.
The case of Kevin Mugambi Gitari comes as new details concerning the embassy employee detained in Saudi Arabia were reported on 12 November, in new details on an embassy employee detained in Saudi Arabia.
