Out in the World: Killer of Kenyan gay activist sentenced to 50 years

  • by Heather Cassell, BAR Contributor
  • Monday December 23, 2024
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Jacktone Odhiambo, shown here in 2023, was convicted in the murder of Kenyan gay rights activist Edwin Chiloba. Photo: Peter Odiambo/AP file
Jacktone Odhiambo, shown here in 2023, was convicted in the murder of Kenyan gay rights activist Edwin Chiloba. Photo: Peter Odiambo/AP file

The High Court in Eldoret, Kenya gave the maximum sentence of 50 years in prison to the man who was convicted of murdering well-known gay rights activist Edwin Chiloba nearly two years ago.

Meanwhile, a court in Ghana cleared the way for the country's anti-LGBTQ bill to become law when it dismissed two challenges against the legislation.

Kenya

In Kenya, Jacktone Odhiambo, a 25-year-old freelance photographer who was Chiloba's roommate, was convicted for "premeditated, malicious, and aggravated homicide" on December 16. He was then sentenced to 50 years in prison.

Chiloba's murder, on January 4, 2023, sent shockwaves through Kenya's LGBTQ community and outraged human rights and LGBTQ activists around the world.

Chiloba, also known as Edwin Kiprotich Kipruto, was 25 and a rising star in the fashion world. Diversity and inclusivity were at the heart of Chiloba's brand, ChilobaDesigns, in a country that criminalizes homosexuality.

Kenya's high court upheld the country's British colonial-era anti-sodomy law in 2019, the Bay Area Reporter previously reported, and Kenya's presidents have repeatedly spoken out against LGBTQ rights, reported the Washington Post.

LGBTQ people, mostly gay men, face 14 years in jail if convicted under penal code articles 162 and 165. The laws are rarely enforced, but it allows for an environment of homophobia and persecution, which has been perpetuated by Kenya's presidents, according to Human Rights Watch.

Chiloba used "fashion to deconstruct gender and advocate for the rights of the marginalized group," Becky Mududa, programs director at the Western Kenya LBQT Feminist Forum, told the Guardian.

"My movement is for everyone. It's about inclusion. And if I am going to fight what I have been marginalized for, I am going to fight for all marginalized people," Chiloba posted on Instagram on December 16, 2022, just weeks before his death.

The killing

Nearly two years ago, Chiloba was found stuffed into a metal box on the side of a road in Uasin Gishu County, in the Rift Valley of western Kenya, outside of Eldoret, as the B.A.R. previously reported. The location is about 195 miles northwest, an estimated six-hour drive, from Chiloba's home in Nairobi, Kenya's capital.

He was dressed in women's clothes and his body was brutally beaten to death, his eyes were gouged out, and police found six pairs of socks stuffed into his mouth when they opened the box.

"He died a painful death," an unidentified police officer based in Eldoret told the media at the time, reported Voice of America. "They must have tortured him and then gouged out his eye. It appears he was strangled."

Four men were initially arrested on suspicion of murder, the B.A.R. previously reported. But the Associated Press reported that Odhiambo became the prime suspect in the investigation. The court released the three other suspects. Police deemed Chiloba's murder not a hate crime.

The trial

During the two-year trial, the prosecutor, Mark Mugun, presented evidence from 23 witnesses and experts, along with DNA evidence. He also noted that Odhiambo sexually assaulted Chiloba before killing him and then went on a spending spree with Chiloba's money after the murder, reported the BBC.

Chiloba and Odhiambo were last seen together at Tamasha Club in Nairobi on December 31, 2022. Three days later, Chiloba's decomposing body was discovered in the metal box.

Neighbors testified hearing an argument between the two men and later seeing Odhiambo moving the metal box.

Odhiambo denied killing Chiloba, however, his DNA was found on the victim's body, AP reported.

Justice Reuben Nyakundi noted in the ruling that Chiloba had marks on his hands, showing that he tried to fight back, reported the AP.

Nyakundi was particularly disturbed by Odhiambo's lack of remorse during the trial, according to the Capital News, a local news outlet in Kenya. Speculation of an intimate relationship between the men was the cause of the murder, but the motive was never determined, reported the BBC.

Reading his ruling to the court, Nyakundi said, "The accused deserves the death penalty, which is not implemented in Kenya. As such, this court has sentenced him to serve 50 years in jail," reported Capital News.

Nyakundi noted that Odhiambo forcibly inserted six pairs of socks into Chiloba's throat, causing asphyxia and the subsequent collapse of all body functions.

Nyakundi said, "The footprints to the murder are all traceable to the accused."

The judge said the crime was executed with "ill will and malice," reported Capital News.

After Nyakundi finished reading the sentence, Odhiambo fell down crying in the courtroom, reported AP. According to AP, Odhiambo can appeal the sentencing.

Ghana's Supreme Court tosses out two challenges to anti-LGBTQ law

Ghana's Supreme Court on December 18 threw out two challenges to the country's draconian anti-LGBTQ bill, meaning that it could be signed into law.

Earlier this year, outgoing President Nana Akufo-Addo said he would wait for the court ruling on the challenges to the bill. Akufo-Addo has not announced what he will do following the court's decision. He leaves office January 7.

Justice Avril Lovelace-Johnson, head of the court's seven-member panel, said, "It will be premature for this court to exercise its interpretive and enforcement jurisdiction to intervene. Consequently, the action fails."

"Until there is presidential assent to the bill, there is no act of which the Supreme Court will use its supervisory jurisdiction to overturn," she added, reported the Guardian.

Lawyers Amanda Odoi and Richard Sky filed separate challenges to the bill, reported CNN. They both sought to declare it illegal and prevent the president from signing it.

Ghana's President-elect John Mahama, of the National Democratic Congress, was elected December 8 and will be sworn in early January.

Mahama, who also served as president from 2012 to 2017, told the BBC in a clip of the interview posted by Ghanaian LGBTQ rights organization, Rightify Ghana, that he would sign the bill into law, but only after assessing it.

"It is not an anti-LGBTQ+ Bill, but a Family Values Bill," Mahama told the outlet. "It was approved unanimously by our Parliament. You see, it's against our culture, I mean African culture, our religious faith — Muslim and Christian and all that.

"But I think we must look at the bill, and the president must indicate what he finds wrong with the bill and send the bill back to Parliament or alternatively, he must send it to the Council of State and get the Council of State's advice," he stated.

When pressed again by the reporter, he responded, "It depends on what is in the bill."

Anti-LGBTQ hate in Ghana

The B.A.R. has followed the development of the anti-LGBTQ campaign and the bill since early 2021.

The Western African country's lawmakers passed the "Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021" (formerly "The Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values"), in February. The bill clarified anyone identifying as LGBTQ could face up to three years in jail. Anyone charged with forming or funding an LGBTQ organization faces a maximum of five years in prison. People involved in LGBTQ advocacy campaigns aimed at children could face up to 10 years in jail.

The bill was a response by conservative members of parliament to the opening and subsequent raid of Ghana's first LGBTQ community center in Accra, the country's capital, in 2021, the B.A.R. reported at the time.

Gay sex was already criminalized in Ghana in its 1960 constitution after the country gained its independence from Britain and joined the Commonwealth in 1957. Offenders charged with gay sex were punished with up to three years in prison.

However, until 2021, the law was rarely enforced, according to LGBTQ community leaders and human rights reports.

Since the raid and closure of the LGBTQ center, some Ghanaian LGBTQ activists have been in hiding. LGBTQ Ghanaian activists have reported anti-LGBTQ harassment and attacks have increased. In 2021, the B.A.R. reported a judge denied bail for 21 LGBTQ activists who were arrested during a police raid of a human rights conference in the country. A year later, Outright International published a report, "'We Deserve Protection': Anti-LGBTIQ Legislation and Violence in Ghana." The report details the impact of the bill on LGBTQ Ghanaians "leading to severe human rights violations by law enforcement and members of the general public" from arbitrary arrests to mob attacks to online harassment to gang rape and other acts of violence and discrimination.

Condemnation

The State Department was diplomatic, congratulating Mahama on his election victory and noting Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang as the country's first female vice president, while still expressing concern about the bill and the well-being of Ghana's LGBTQ community.

"We've previously stated our concerns about this bill," Vedant Patel, principal deputy spokesperson at the State Department, told reporters responding to a question during a December 18 press briefing. "We take note of the announced ruling dismissing the two challenges [against the] legislation.

"Our primary concern is the safety and well-being of vulnerable populations and individuals. Nobody should be targeted, threatened, harmed, or marginalized on who they are," Patel continued, stating that the department is in contact with Ghana's government and Mahama's incoming administration.

If the current president or president-elect signs the bill into law, it could still face legal challenges as well as threaten the country's financial support from the World Bank to the tune of $3.8 billion, reported the BBC. However, it could also signal an increase in anti-LGBT attacks and harassment.

Berinyuy Hans Burinyuy, LGBT+ Rights Ghana's director for communications, told the Washington Blade earlier this month that homophobic attacks and public demonstrations increased during the presidential campaign.

"The passage of the Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill into law will institutionalize State-sanctioned discrimination and violence against LGBTQ+ individuals, leaving little to no legal recourse for those affected," said Burinyuy. "The climate of fear and uncertainty that has gripped Ghana's LGBTQ+ community cannot be overstated."

Got international LGBTQ news tips? Call or send them to Heather Cassell at WhatsApp/Signal: 415-517-7239, or [email protected]

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