NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenyan police are investigating the death of an LGBTQ activist whose body was found stuffed in a metal box, as rights groups condemned the killing Friday.
The body of Edwin Chiloba was found on a road in Uasin Gishu County in the west of the country on Wednesday.
Police say a motorcycle taxi operator reported seeing the box thrown from a vehicle with no license plate.
The motorcyclist reported the incident to the police who were at a nearby checkpoint.
Officers who opened the box found the decomposing body of a man, who they described as dressed in women’s clothing.
The deceased was identified as Chiloba and his body was taken to the Moi Educational and Referral Hospital to establish the cause of death.
Police spokesperson Resila Onyango said the motive was not yet known.
“For now we don’t know why he was killed like that. Experts are looking into the matter,” he said.
via the Associated Press
Chiloba has been attacked and bullied in the past for his activism, his friend Denis Nzioka wrote on Twitter on Thursday.
The Kenya Human Rights Commission said on Friday that Chiloba was the victim of “yet another disgusting act of homophobic violence”.
Amnesty International Secretary-General Agnès Callamard tweeted that a full and independent investigation into Chiloba’s “chilling” killing must be carried out “with no stone unturned”.
Chiloba, who was a fashion designer, was praised by local activist Njeri Migwi, who said he “epitomizes fashion”.
Demands for justice have spread outside Kenya as Ghanaian human rights organization Rightify called on President William Ruto to “ensure the protection and promotion of the human rights of sexual and gender minorities”.
LGBTQ people living in Kenya have often criticized discrimination and attacks in a country where sex between men is illegal.
Kenya is a largely conservative society and the president has said in the past that gay rights are not an issue in the East African country.
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