The Kenyan police are investigating into the death of an LGBTQIA+ activist whose body was stuffed in a metal box on a road in Usain Gishu Country, Nairobi, Kenya. The deceased, identified as Edwin Chiloba was taken to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital for experts to establish the cause of his death. The Kenya Human Rights Commission on Friday called Edwin a victim of "another disgusting act of homophobic violence."
"He was brutally killed & dumped in the area by unknown assailants," KHRC Tweeted. “It is truly worrisome that we continue to witness escalation in violence targeting LGBTQ+ Kenyans.”
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Kenya National Police Service spokesperson Resila Onyango declined any comments stating she would comment at a later time. Uasin Gishu County Commander Ayub Gitonga Ali declined to comment either. Onyango, however, said that the motive behind the killing was yet unknown, adding that experts are handling the case. Chiloba's body was discovered after a motorcycle taxi operator reported witnessing a vehicle with no license plates dumping the box, in the west of the country to cops patrolling a nearby roadblock on Wednesday, January 4.
Upon opening the box, officers found the decomposing body of a man, whom they described as wearing women's clothes. Chiloba's friend, Denis Nzioka on Wednesday tweeted that the Queer Rights activist has been attacked and assaulted for his activism in the past.
The LGBTQIA+ community continues to be incarcerated in Kenya under the Brish-Era laws criminalizing homosexuality and penalizing gay sex with 14 years of jail time. The LGBTQ people residing in the country have often decried discrimination and been attacked. Former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta in the past has called gay rights a nonissue in the east African country where sex between men is still illegal with a 14-year long jail term.
In recent years, the country’s film board has banned two films for their portrayals of gay lives. In June 2022, a number of queer Kenyan men in an interview with Al Jazeera said that they had developed a phobia of public hospitals and were willing to try risky alternatives, because of targeted discrimination by doctors that gets reinforced due to discriminatory laws and social taboos.
A fashion designer by profession, Chiloba was called the "embodiment of fashion" by local activist Njeri Migwi in her eulogy. “Words cannot even explain how we as a community are feeling right now. Edwin Chiloba was a fighter, fighting relentlessly to change the hearts and minds of society when it came to LGBTQ+ lives,” GALCK+, a Kenyan gay rights group, said on Twitter.
Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International secretary-general has tweeted demanding a full and independent investigation leaving no stone unturned into Chiloba's "heart-breaking" killing. Demands for justice for Chiloba have crossed national boundaries as Ghananian human rights organization Rightify called on Kenyan President William Ruto to “ensure the protection and promotion of human rights of sexual and gender minorities.”
(With AP inputs)
