Autopsy on attackers put on hold after quarrel

A postmortem of the bodies of the three women killed after a raid on Mombasa’s Central Police Station has been called off indefinitely.

This followed a disagreement mid-stream the postmortem among representatives of human rights organisations, the family of Ramla Abdirahman Hussein and Maimuna Abdirahman Hussein and the government pathologist Johansen Oduor.

Led by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) representatives, the activists insisted that they wanted the activity done in order to give a comprehensive cause of death.

But Dr Oduor said he was guided by the family’s wishes as contained in an affidavit signed by the father.

They argued that should bullets be found in the bodies of the three, they would be able to take them for ballistic analysis.

The body of Tasnim Yakub Abdullahi Farah, who is said to have been the ring leader, is yet to be claimed.

The parents of the two sisters, Ramla and Maimuna, had already signed the document that only allows for physical autopsy and were even issued with a burial permit, which was revoked later after the human rights agencies rejected the process.

They were killed on September 11.

Dr Oduor had earlier stated that one of the bodies sustained severe burns while the other had bullets entries and exits saying there was no need to dissect the bodies.

“You can go for x-ray if you do not believe what am telling you so that you can see whether there are bullets in the body. I have done what the parents had told me to do,” Dr Odour told the activists.

But the human rights organisations remained defiant that the two bodies must be opened for an elaborate autopsy bringing to a halt the entire exercise.

“We are putting on hold (the exercise) until further directions," said Dr Owuor

UNDER DURESS
Sources indicate that the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) had advised the pathologists and police to call off the exercise should there be no understanding between the parties.

The girls' father, Abdirahman Hussein, had obtained an affidavit stating his desire to bury his daughters without a postmortem examination being conducted on them because of his Muslim faith.

But the father was compelled by police and the human rights groups to allow a postmortem to be conducted.

Muslim for Human Rights (Muhuri) chairman Khelef Khalifa, who was among the human rights activist at the Coast General Hospital mortuary, alleged that “the father was forced to sign the affidavit under duress”.

Other human agencies present included Independent Medico-legal Unit (IMLU) and Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC).

Mr Hussein, who was accompanied by his wife and two daughters, was again subject to another agony of unsuccessfully attempt to bury his daughters.

Several relatives and friends waited outside the mortuary expecting that the bodies would be released for burial set at 4pm at the Tudor Muslim Cemetery.

Edited by Philip Momanyi