World

Kenyan Gay Rights Activist, Edwin Chiloba, Is Killed


NAIROBI, Kenya — A gay activist and fashion designer has been murdered and his body found stuffed in a metal box in Kenya, police said on Friday, in a separate twist. raises questions about the dangers and discrimination faced by homosexuals across the East African nation.

Edwin Chiloba’s body was found in the box after it was dropped by a moving vehicle without a license plate on the side of the road in the western Uasin Gishu district. Peter Kimulwo, the county’s crime investigator, told reporters that residents reported a foul smell coming from the box and when police opened it, they found Mr. Chiloba’s body wrapped in a box. women’s dress.

Mr Kimulwo said police arrested Jackton Odhiambo, a 24-year-old freelance photographer who was a longtime friend of Mr. Chiloba and was visiting him from the capital Nairobi.

Mr Kimulwo said authorities were still trying to determine the exact circumstances of the killing as well as the motive behind it, adding: “We cannot speculate at the moment.”

He said Mr Chiloba was last seen on Sunday morning, New Year’s Day, when he returned home with friends. Initial investigations showed that neighbors “heard a commotion and the crying subsided after a short time,” he said. Mr Kimulwo said police suspect that was when Mr Chiloba was killed.

On Tuesday, he added, on the day the body was dumped on the side of the road, neighbors saw a car being driven into Chiloba’s property and two men loading a metal box.

Police are searching the vehicle that was used to transport Mr Chiloba’s body and the two men believed to have helped move the box. They are also conducting an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

News of Mr Chiloba’s murder spread in Kenya on Friday, with activists, rights group and many in the LGBTQ community desire a speedy investigation and prosecution of those involved. The independent Kenya Human Rights Commission called his killing “reproachable” and “deeply unjust” and said it was concerned about the escalating violence against Kenyan gays.

“This is a terrifying crime but it is becoming commonplace in Kenya – evidence that violence is on the rise in the country,” the organization said. said in a statement.

Although it is not illegal to identify as homosexual in Kenya, Colonial law criminalized consensual gay sex is “against the natural order”, with those caught facing up to 14 years in prison. Arrests and prosecutions under the law are rare, but activists say they fuel homophobia and expose members of the LGBTQ community to blackmail and blackmail.

Irungu Houghton, executive director of Amnesty International Kenya, said: “Until the country is safe for all who live in it, our silence and normalization of violence will facilitate serious criminals. wrote on Twitter.

Born Edwin Kiprotich Kiptoo, Mr. Chiloba is a fashion designer and model who is often vocal about gay rights and the importance of inclusion and diversity in his brand.

“My movement is for everyone,” he wrote in an Instagram poset mid-December. “It’s about inclusion. And if I fight for what I have been marginalized, then I will fight for all those who are marginalized.”

James Gitaka contributed reporting from Eldoret, Kenya.

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