By Elizabeth Costner
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Africa
NAIROBI, Kenya – The Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights (KNHCR) has accused the police of carrying out hundreds of extrajudicial executions during an operation against the Mungiki criminal sect.
The Mungiki are a politico-religious group and a banned criminal organization in Kenya. Earlier this year, the Mungiki gang went on a spree of beheadings and killings after clashing with the police in Nairobi. Late last month local human rights groups accused the police of executing suspected members and dumping their bodies outside Nairobi when the morgue was filled to capacity.
KNHCR announced Monday that it has evidence that almost 500 suspects were shot and their bodies dumped during the past five months. While not explicitly blaming the police for the deaths, the report does state that “circumstantial evidence” linked the police to the killings and that the force seemed to be blocking efforts to find the killers.
The commission has called for a probe led by international experts and the UN to verify their investigation. KNHCR’s Njonjo Mue announced today that post mortem reports on some of the suspects confirm that they were shot at close range. Mr. Mue, the head of advocacy, explained to journalists that the reports show the cause of death was multiple organ injures due to multiple gun shots and that pathologists concluded the fatal bullets were shot from behind. This supports the commission’s findings that the suspects were executed.
The Police Commissioner, Hussein Ali, has accused KNHCR of spoiling the name of police to justify its existence. Ali stated, “The police takes great exception to the grave accusations make recklessly by KNHCR, accusing police of involvement in the murder of missing persons. These are allegations without a shred of evidence.”
On Tuesday the police chief held a press conference, in which he rebuked the human rights investigators. He emphasized that the KNHCR has no investigation experience and that Kenya’s legal system requires any crime to be reported to the police. Therefore, any action taken outside that legal framework is illegal and unacceptable.
For more information, please see:
BBC News – Post mortems on executed Kenyans – 7 November 2007
AllAfrica.com – Kenya: Ali Dismisses KIAI’s Report on Executions – 7 November 2007
AllAfrica.com – Kenya: Show Us Evidence on Killings, Says Ali – 7 November 2007
Time – Kenya Accused of Mass Killings – 6 November 2007
Reuters Africa – Kenya’s police deny killing hundreds of Mungiki suspects – 6 November 2007
AP – Kenyans Blame Police for Killings – 6 November 2007
