Activist was strangled, says officer

Photo/FILE
Former Coast Provincial Criminal Investigations Officer Nyagah Reche (left), who has since died, with some Muslim youths as they left the Coast Provincial Police boss’ office where they had gone to launch a complaint against the arrest of two Imams last year. Mr Samir Khan (second right) went missing on Tuesday and was found dead in Taita on April 12, 2012.

Muslim activist Samir Khan was strangled and his private parts chopped off according to an external examination conducted by a doctor before he was buried.

A senior police officer familiar with the investigation but who requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the case said the family wanted to confirm whether the activist was a victim of extra-judicial killing.

The family declined to allow a full post-mortem on the basis it was against their traditions and religious beliefs.

Visible evidence

“They told us that according to Muslim religious belief, they could not allow any cutting on the dead body and signed that they were satisfied with the visible evidence,” the source said.

The investigation, the source said, will begin in Tsavo East National Park where the body was dumped the night of April 12 at Man-eaters before considering the marks found on the body.

Mr Khan was facing illegal possession of weapons charges.

“Since we have agreed with the family members present at the hospital where the examination was conducted, investigation will be based on the evidence we have collected,” said the source.

The police said the investigation would focus on people who claimed the deceased was abducted at Nakumatt in Mombasa and bundled into a Toyota Probox at around 11 am.

They said since these people appeared to know something but had not reported anything to them, they could have information that could help in the investigation and ultimately lead to the arrest of the killers.

Police said the body was seen by a truck driver who reported to Mtito Andei police station about 70km away before the same report was transmitted to Voi police station for action.

In a telephone interview, Coast Provincial Police Officer Aggrey Adoli said the partial post-mortem was done according to the family’s wishes after the body was found and would be sufficient to enable his officers to proceed with their investigation.

According to the police boss, a doctor conducted a physical check of the body and made a preliminary report on his findings. He said a post-mortem does not necessarily require the actual dissection of the body but could be done through a physical inspection.

“We are investigating to establish how the body was found and to discover the cause of the death,” he said.

Story by Philip Muyanga, Mwakera Mwajefa and Jonathan Manyindo