Autopsies on corpses found in mass graves linked to a religious cult in Kenya have revealed missing organs and raised suspicions of forced harvesting, investigators said, with a fresh round of exhumations to resume on Tuesday.
The discovery of mass graves last month near the Indian Ocean coastal town of Malindi has stunned the deeply religious Christian-majority country in what has been called the “Shakahola forest massacre”.
Police believe most of the bodies belong to followers of the self-styled pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, who is accused of ordering them to starve to death “to meet Jesus”.
Examinations have now shown that while starvation appears to be the main cause of death, some victims were strangled, beaten or suffocated and others were missing organs. “Post-mortem reports have established missing organs in some of the bodies of victims who have been exhumed,” Inspector Martin Munene said in an affidavit.
Interior minister Kithure Kindiki said on Tuesday that “on the issue of missing body parts theory, I think investigations are still going on… I’m advised by the experts that we should not pre-empt the investigations…it’s a theory we are investigating”.
