Kenya Designates Muslim Brotherhood, Hizb-ur-Tahrir as Terrorist Groups

Kenyan Interior Secretary Kipchumba Murkome

September 22, 2025 (NAIROBI) – The government has formally declared the Muslim Brotherhood and Hizb-ur-Tahrir as terrorist organizations operating under the radar in Kenya, placing them in the same category as Al-Shabaab and other outlawed extremist groups.

In a special issue of the Kenya Gazette Supplement No. 157 dated September 19, 2025, Interior and National Administration Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen issued Legal Notice No. 157, citing powers conferred under Section 3(3) of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, Cap. 59B.

The notice, titled The Prevention of Terrorism (Declaration of Specified Entities) Order, 2025, lists the two Islamist groups in its schedule, effectively criminalizing their activities within Kenyan territory.

The declaration means that membership, financing, association, or propaganda in support of the groups is now a prosecutable offence in Kenyan courts, with penalties ranging from heavy fines to long prison terms. The order will remain in force indefinitely until revoked either by the Interior Cabinet Secretary or by a court of law.

Kenya’s decision to outlaw the two transnational Islamist movements is significant as it signals a tightening of the country’s counterterrorism framework at a time when extremist networks are increasingly fluid, globalized, and adaptive.

The move comes as Kenya continues to grapple with the spillover effects of instability in neighbouring Somalia, which has long served as a sanctuary for Al-Shabaab militants. The group has repeatedly launched deadly attacks on Kenyan soil, profoundly impacting the country’s political stability and forcing the government to adopt a more aggressive security posture against radical Islamist threats.

While the Muslim Brotherhood and Hizb-ur-Tahrir are not known to have executed major violent attacks on Kenyan soil, intelligence assessments have long flagged them for their ideological radicalization, clandestine recruitment strategies, and links to international terror ecosystems.

Kenya, which is the first East African nation to ban the Muslim Brotherhood group, now joins countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Russia, which have formally designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation.