Supreme Court Judge Mohamed Ibrahim has died, aged 69, after a long illness.
Justice Ibrahim passed away on Wednesday, December 17, afternoon at Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi, the Judiciary confirmed.
The news travelled fast through court corridors across a nation that has watched him shape some of its most consequential rulings.
Chief Justice Martha Koome led the tributes, describing Justice Ibrahim as a jurist of “deep integrity, humility and unwavering commitment to the Constitution”.
She said the country had lost “a principled mind and a steady hand”.
Born in 1956, Justice Ibrahim’s life traced the arc of Kenya’s modern legal history.
In 1983, he became the first Kenyan-Somali advocate admitted to the Bar, a landmark moment in a profession long shaped by exclusion.
His career began in private practice, but history soon pulled him closer.
During the dark years of the late 1980s and early 1990s, he represented activists and political detainees at a time when doing so carried real risk.
In 1990, that risk caught up with him. Mohamed Ibrahim was detained without trial by the Moi government and held at Kamiti Prison for a month.
It did not break him. It hardened his belief that the law must protect the powerless.
When he joined the High Court in 2003 and later the inaugural Supreme Court in 2011, he carried that belief with him onto the Bench.
From presidential election disputes to constitutional interpretation, Justice Ibrahim was a central figure in cases that tested the country’s democratic spine.
Calm. Measured. Often softly spoken. But firm.
In recent years, illness forced him to step back from full judicial duties. He sought treatment abroad, including in India, before returning home.
Those close to him say he remained engaged – following court decisions, mentoring younger judges, and asking questions.
He was weeks away from mandatory retirement in January 2026.
Tributes poured in from across the legal and political spectrum.
Many advocates eulogised him as “a moral compass in turbulent times”.
Former colleagues remembered a man who listened more than he spoke – and spoke only when it mattered.
Justice Ibrahim is survived by his wife and four children.
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