NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 3 — Police in Yala are on the spot over the detention of Okero Okite, a man who exposed the dumping of bodies in River Yala in what human rights defenders have linked to extrajudicial killings.
HAKI Africa said in a statement Thursday that Okite was “summoned by police in Yala in the pretext of being offered a job by the State for his good work.”
“However, on reaching the station, he was detained and threatened. His phone was also confiscated,” HAKI Africa said.
The rights group stated that Okite was later released following their intervention.
The human rights lobby further warned security agencies that they will hold them responsible should anything happen to Okite.
“While he is safe for now let it be known that HAKI Africa will hold the DCI responsible should anything happen to Okero Okite We demand that he immediately be given protection and that Kenyans speak out against this intimidation,” they added.
Okite’s name came to public limelight on January 18 when he said he had retrieved 31 bodies from River Yala since July 2021.
On October 10, 2021 alone, Okero said he retrieved 10 bodies.
“Each of the 10 bodies were in individual sacks, and in his own words, each body was neatly packed and sealed like a parcel,” activist Boniface Mwangi said, quoting the Okero when they visited the scene.
A probe by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to unearth those behind the murders is yet to be finalized.
Chief Government Pathologist Johansen Oduor led a team of forensic experts probing the circumstances under which victims of the Yala River met their deaths amid indications that they were murdered elsewhere.
Some of the bodies were affixed to stones in an apparent attempt to prevent them from floating above the water.
