Edwin Chiloba: LGBTQ activist found dead inside a metal box on roadside in Kenya

TW trigger warning

Police in Kenya are investigating the death of young fashion designer and LGBTQ activist after their body was found dumped in a metal box by the roadside.

 

The body of 25-year-old Edwin Chiloba was found on Wednesday (January 4) on a road in Uasin Gishu County, in the west of the country.

 

Police say a motorcycle taxi operator reported seeing the box being dumped by a vehicle with no license plates. The rider reported the incident to police officers who were manning a nearby roadblock.

Officers who opened the box found the decomposing body of a man, whom they described as wearing women’s clothes.

 

 

Per Guardian, Homosexuality is taboo in Kenya and across much of Africa and gay people often face discrimination or persecution. Attempts to overturn British colonial-era laws banning homosexuality in Kenya have proven unsuccessful, and gay sex remains a punishable crime with penalties that include imprisonment of up to 14 years.

 

The motive for the killing is unknown, but LGBTQ+ rights organisations in Kenya are linking the murder to the victims’ sexuality.

READ:  Edwin Chiloba: Five suspects arrested over murder of Kenyan LGBTQ activist as details continue to emerge

Police spokesperson Resila Onyango said:.

“We don’t know for now why he was killed that way. Experts are handling the matter,” she said.

 

“Words cannot even explain how we as a community are feeling right now. Another soul lost due to hate. You will be missed,” rights organisation galck+ posted on Twitter.

“Edwin was a loved and valued member of his community who used the platforms available to him to fight for what was right! This loathsome act comes as a blow to the LGBTIQ+ community and leaves us all reeling from shock!”, the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission wrote on Instagram.

“The murder itself was terrible, but the callous way his body was discarded makes the situation all the more mortifying! Edwin’s death reminds us that queer bodies continue to be under attack all over the country”

 Edwin Chiloba
Edwin Chiloba (Instagram: nglhrckenya)

 

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