Kenyan police deny claims of extrajudicial killings

The Kenyan police on Thursday denied being behind extrajudicial killings amid allegations about the disappearance of 81 people in the coastal region in the past five years in the war on terrorism.

Inspector General of Police, Joseph Boinnet, termed the allegations documented in a report by a civil society organization, Haki Africa, which was released on Wednesday "unfounded".

"The National Police Service rejects the allegations as based on unfounded distortions of real facts made for reasons only known to themselves," said Boinnet in a statement.

The report by Haki Africa released details of the deaths or disappearances of 81 people during that time, saying 22 of the deaths were allegedly caused by excessive force by police; four occurred in police custody; 31 involved cases of alleged extrajudicial execution; and 24 were thought to be enforced disappearances.

Haki Africa Executive Director Hussein Khalid said Kenya's counter-terrorism police and members of specialized units were involved in the cases.

"Although there are many other cases that have been reported to us or that we have come across, it is these cases that we are able to confirm details of," said Khalid.

He said available evidence on the incidents suggests the vast majority of likely perpetrators in the period between 2012 and 2016 were police officers from counter-terrorism or other specialized units.

"Although most victims on our list are youths, there are also sheiks, imams and preachers, some of them well over 50 years old," Khalid said, adding there was heavy religious profiling involved in these cases.

"We totally reject claims of religious profiling as we only focus on criminals irrespective of their religious affiliation. The national police will continue to exercise its mandate in accordance with the law without fear or favour," Boinett said.

He called on Kenyans to continue to support the counter-terrorism measures by the police and other security agencies in the efforts to deal with all forms of crime.

The report however called for clarification from the state on who has been killed or disappeared by the agents since April 2012, any action taken on the agents, where the bodies are and what steps taken to investigate them.

"The Kenyan government must furthermore clarify whether there is or has ever been in existence a shoot to kill or political assassination counterterrorism policy- formal or informal amongst the security operatives," it said. Endit