NAIROBI, January 6 — Kenyan police discovered the body of a prominent LGBTQ rights activist stuffed inside a metal box in the west of the country, local media reported on Friday.
Motorcycle taxi drivers alerted police after they saw the box thrown onto the roadside from a vehicle with a hidden number plate, The Standard and The Daily Nation newspapers reported, citing police sources.
The remains of activist Edwin Chiloba were found on Tuesday near the town of Eldoret in Uasin Gishu county, where he ran his fashion business, the independent human rights group Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) said.
“He was brutally murdered and dumped in the area by unknown assailants,” KHRC said on Twitter. “It is really concerning that we continue to witness an escalation of violence against LGBTQ+ Kenyans.”
Research suggests that acceptance of homosexuality is gradually increasing in Kenya, but it remains a taboo subject for many. The country’s film board banned two films for their representations of homosexual lives in recent years.
Kenya National Police Service spokeswoman Resila Onyango said she would comment later. Uasin Gishu County Commander Ayub Gitonga Ali declined to comment.
“Words can’t even explain how we feel as a community right now. Edwin Chiloba was a fighter who relentlessly fought to change the hearts and minds of society when it came to LGBTQ+ lives,” GALCK, a Kenyan gay rights group, said on Twitter.
Under a British colonial-era law, gay sex in Kenya is punishable by 14 years in prison. It is rarely enforced, but discrimination is common.