Body of Kenyan LGBTQ activist found in a metal box dumped on a road
NAIROBI — Police in Kenya are investigating the death of an LGBTQ activist whose body was found stuffed in a metal box.
The body of Edwin Chiloba was found Wednesday 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 they described as wearing women’s clothes.
The man was identified as Chiloba, and his body was taken to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital to establish the cause of death.
Police spokeswoman Resila Onyango said the motive was not yet known.
The late archbishop’s campaign against apartheid drew worldwide respect, but his efforts to fight homophobia had limited impact on his home continent.
“We don’t know for now why he was killed that way. Experts are handling the matter,” she said.
Chiloba was a well-known LGBTQ activist and had in the past been attacked and assaulted for his advocacy, his friend Denis Nzioka tweeted Wednesday.
LGBTQ people living in Kenya have often decried discrimination and attacks in a country where sex between men is illegal.
Kenya is largely a conservative society, and the president has said that gay rights are a nonissue in the East African country.
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