An Al Jazeera expose puts the spotlight on Kenyan govt over extrajudicial killings

An ‘expose’ by an international media house has put the spotlight on the extrajudicial killings of Muslim clerics by a government sanctioned hitmen in the Kenyan Coastal city of Mombassa in recent years.
“Inside Kenya’s Killing Squad”, an Al Jazeera investigative program that aired on Monday night featured the police hitmen behind the extrajudicial program that targets suspected Muslim radicals in the country. Trained and financed by the Western intelligence services, the hitmen confirmed that “the order to kill the Sheiks comes from the highest security organs in the country.”
Al Jazeera selectively chose to interview four ‘officers’ from the so-called “death squad”. They comprise of members form the paramilitary elite unit Recce Company, a spy from the National Security Intelligence Services (NSIS) which provides intelligence on the target, a member from the Radiation unit; a rapid reaction team within the GSU police unit and an officer from the Anti-Terror Police Unit (ATPU) that is charged with containing terrorism activities in the country. The expose laid in bare the role of the Radiation Unit; to kill suspected terror militants in Mombassa.
“I am in Radiation. And in radiation I think it is very dangerous,” an officer belonging to the Radiation Unit said in the expose.
The identity of the hitmen was concealed and their role in the assassination program verified, Al Jazeera claimed.
Before the target is taken out, the four units, ATPU, NSIS, Recce Company and the Radiation Unit, conspire with the help of foreign intelligence services. They put their target under surveillance and codename him “Chris”.
“The NSIS puts their target under surveillance; they monitor what he does, where he goes to, the time he comes back home and whether he directly comes home after work,” narrated an NSIS officer. He added that on many occasions, they get someone to bring the target to a certain place where they finish him off.
In the case of Makaburi, his assassination order came from the National Security Council, a council made up of the President, his deputy, the Chief of Defense Forces, the Inspector-General of Police, NSIS director, the Cabinet Secretary for Interior and his Principal Secretary, according to a hitman who spoke to the investigative program in confidence. “We remain standby and wait for orders from above to eliminate,” one ‘officer’ hinted.
“Makaburi was a dangerous person. What do you do with a such person? Do you spare him because you are observing human rights?” asked one of the hitmen in the assassination program.
A Recce Squad hitman said: “We don’t arrest. We are sharpshooters. Why should a sharpshooter be taken to arrest?”
Human rights organisations have raised alarm over the high number of extrajudicial killing in the country. They highlighted at least 18 gundown over the last two years.
In February this year, police raided Masjid Musa in Mombassa. Eight worshippers were killed and over 100 other arrested in an alleged terror gathering. Some of those arrested have been confirmed missing. The hitmen confirmed they might have been killed by the police.
The hitmen also exposed cases where targets are eliminated. “We eliminate the targets after bail-out or acquittals,” he claimed. “Since I was employed, I killed at least 50 people,” added another hitman.
“Does that make you happy?” asked the investigative journalist.
“Definitely it does, because I have eliminated some problem,” he responded without remorse.
An ATPU officer claimed hundreds of suspects are killed by police every year.
He said: ‘Day in, day out, you hear of eliminating suspects. We have the police itself. We have special units like GSU. So not a total, but you can say about almost 500.’
He added: ‘That is police work.’
Speaking about one case he confessed: ‘They were targeted, identified and eliminated in front of their families.’
In some cases, the program exposed, they kill suspects and plant evidence to justify their action.
Masoud mwinyi, the Kenyan police spokesman, declined to comment on the assassination program allegedly carried out by the Kenyan police force.
Professor David Anderson of the University of Warwick said the war on terror gives the security agencies in Kenya the leeway to trample on the fundamental human right of the suspects under the guise of stopping terror activities in the country.
“The current war the government is involved in Somalia give the security agencies the blanket cover that they are doing this [assassination program] because of that war,” he said.