Kenya: Police find body of LGBTQ activist in metal box

Kenyan police on Friday said they were investigating the death of LGBTQ activist Edwin Chiloba, whose body was found left inside a metal box.

Chiloba was well known for promoting the rights of LGBTQ Kenyans in a country where attacks and discrimination are common.

What do we know so far?

Police said they investigated after a taxi driver reported seeing the crate being dumped by a vehicle that had no license plates.

They found the decomposing body of a man inside the container. It was taken to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, where it was identified as being that of Chiloba.

The hospital said examiners were working to examine the causes of the activist's death.

Chiloba's friend Denis Nzioka said the campaigner had previously been attacked and assaulted because of his work.

"You represented and lived life well, Edwin Chiloba," Nzioka tweeted.

Police spokesperson Resila Onyango said the motive had yet to be established.

"We don't know for now why he was killed that way. Experts are handling the matter," she said.

LGBTQ´people living in Kenya, where sex between men is illegal, have often complained of discrimination and violence against them.

Kenya is largely a conservative society, with recently-elected President William Ruto in 2015 — when he was deputy president — warning individuals pushing for gay rights that they did not have a place in the country's society.