Reuters
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Kenyan police have discovered the body of a prominent LGBTQ rights campaigner stuffed in a metal box in the west of the country, local media reported on Friday.
Motorbike taxi riders alerted police after they saw the box being dumped by a vehicle with a number plate on it, The Standard and The Daily Nation reported, citing police sources.
Activist Edwin Chiloba’s body was found Tuesday near the town of Eldoret in the Uasin Gishu district, where he runs his fashion business, independent rights group Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) said. .
“He was brutally killed and his body was dumped in the area by unknown attackers,” KHRC said on Twitter.
“It is truly disturbing that we continue to see an escalation of violence against LGBTQ+ Kenyans.”
Research shows that acceptance of homosexuality is slowly increasing in Kenya, but it remains a taboo subject for many. The country’s film council has banned two films depicting gay lives in recent years.
Kenya National Police Service spokeswoman Resila Onyango said she would comment later. Uasin district commander Gishu Ayub Gitonga Ali declined to comment.
“Words cannot even explain how we as a community are feeling at the moment. Edwin Chiloba is a fighter, fighting relentlessly to change society’s hearts and minds about LGBTQ+ life,” GALCK, a Kenyan gay rights group, wrote on Twitter.
Under British colonial law, gay sex in Kenya could be punishable by up to 14 years in prison. It is rarely enforced but discrimination is common.
