Activists demand justice for shooting victim

A group of human rights activist Friday led family members and friends of a shooting victim by military officers manning the Garissa camp on the night of August 1 in a peaceful demonstration to demand for justice for the victim.
Waving placards, the demonstrators called for an end to alleged ‘rampant extra judicial killings’ in the country.
Led by Amnesty International the human groups demanded for immediate prosecution of those behind the killing of Abdullahi Kassim.
Some of the placards read ‘justice for Abdullahi, end to impunity and injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere’
According to OB filed at Garissa police station, a KDF officer Gabriel Okach reported that the victim tried to snatch a rifle from one of the officers when they asked the deceased to identify himself.
The records further add that the deceased tried to escape prompting the officers to open fire killing him on the spot.
The activist dismissed claims that Kassim could have strayed into the highly guarded military camp.
The demonstration started outside Masjid-ul-Iman mosque along Ngamia road immediately after the Friday prayers to Garissa ndogo and back. They later addressed the media before dispersing.
A lorry full of anti-riot police officers trailed the protesters throughout the procession.
Kenya’s executive director of Amnesty International Irungu Houghton said that the military police should hasten their investigation.
“Every life is precious and deserves protection. We demand that the military police speed up their investigation and have suspects arraigned in court,” Irungu said.
“We will stand with the family until we see justice for Abdullahi,” he added.
He said if the investigation does not lead to the arrest of the killers, then they will escalate the matter to higher offices until justice is delivered.
Irungu said ‘no one is safe from trigger happy security officers’ given the victim was a son to a career police officer.
Chairman of Garissa Human rights defenders Muktar Dahir said the region’s residents have had harrowing experiences in the hands of security personnel.
“What is heartbreaking is that no security officer has been held responsible for these atrocities,” Dahir said.
“As we demand justice for Abdullahi and other victims of human rights violations, our security forces should understand that this country is governed by the rule of law,” he added.
By Jacob Songok