Body of Muslim preacher discovered in northeast Kenya

The dead body of a Muslim cleric has been found in Kenya’s northeastern town of Embu days after he was arrested and taken by Kenyan authorities to an unknown location.

The body, identified as that of Mohamed Ali Kheir, was discovered at a water pond in Embu, located approximately 120 kilometers (75 mi) northeast of the capital, Nairobi, on Saturday and taken to a mortuary in the same town.

Kheir had been arrested by Kenyan authorities in the town of Garissa, situated 367 kilometers (228 miles) northeast of Nairobi, on Thursday.

Some Garissa Muslim leaders say the cleric might have been targeted in what they describe as an “extrajudicial killing” by Kenya’s Anti-Terror Police Unit.

The Kenyan government has not commented on the issue yet.

On November 4, moderate Muslim cleric, Salim Bakari Mwarangi, was shot dead by gunmen in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa.

Mwarangi, a vocal critic of Somalia’s al-Shabab militant group, had earlier received death threats. He preached in Mombasa’s Likoni suburb, where he campaigned against radicalization and drug use.

On June 10, gunmen shot and killed a prominent Muslim cleric known for opposing religious radicalism in Mombasa. Mombasa police chief, Robert Kitur, said Sheikh Mohamed Idris, 64, chairman of the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya, was shot in the stomach shortly before dawn as he headed to prayers at Sakina mosque.

Human rights activists assert that the Kenyan government is behind the long string of killings of Muslim leaders.