Kenyan gay activist found dead
Kenyan LGBTQ anti-discrimination laws activist Edwin Chiloba, lifeless body was found by Kenyan officials stuffed in a metal box.
Officers who opened the box found the decomposing body of a man, whom they described as wearing women’s clothes.
Chiloba’s body was taken to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital to establish the cause of death.
Nairobi based photographer, Jacktone Odhiambo, has been taken into custody after neighbours identified him as the culprit.
Felix Kasanda, also known as Mama G, friend of the deceased decries the continued discrimination and violence the community faces in Kenya.
“So many people have been killed because of their sexual orientation. No action has been taken by the government, even the previous government, even the current government. They say ‘you are gay and you deserve to be killed.’ Things like that.”
Kenya is largely a conservative society and the president has in past said that gay rights are a nonissue in the east African country.
“We are Kenyans and we are not going to sit back and listen to us being killed like dogs every time and again. We need justice despite our sexual orientation. We need justice, we are human beings” pleads Kasanda.
Amnesty International secretary-general Agnes Callamard tweeted that a full and independent investigation into Chiloba’s “heart-breaking” killing must be carried out, “leaving no stone unturned.”
The calls for justice have spread outside Kenya as Ghanaian human rights organization Ratify called on President Ruto to ensure the protection and promotion of human rights of sexual and gender minorities.
According to the International Gay and Lesbian Association, out of the 55 states recognised by the United Nations and the African Union, homosexuality is outlawed in 34 African countries.
Human Rights Watch notes that Benin and the Central African Republic, do not outlaw homosexuality, but have certain laws which discriminate against homosexual individuals.
South Africa is the first on the continent to have institutionalised same sex marriage since November 2006.
Though LGBT anti-discrimination laws exist in Angola, Botswana, Cape Verde, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, and South Africa, the continent is still plagued by backwards views on same sex unions.
africanews
