Amnesty calls for commission to probe Kenya protest deaths

A man is seen using a mobile phone.
Siviwe Gwarube 
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Inclement weather has led to road closures in some parts of KwaZulu-Natal. 
Remains of 49 freedom fighters return home
NAIROBI – Amnesty International called Wednesday for the creation of a commission to investigate the deaths of scores of people from “the use of unlawful police force” in Kenya, three months after mass anti-government protests.
The call came a day after bereaved mothers of protesters gathered outside the Department of Justice to present a list of those killed in the protest movement that lasted between June and August.
“All we want from our government is justice,” said Caroline Mutisya, 49, who lost her son Erikson Kyalo.
“We want all police officers who killed people to be arrested,” she said. 
Rights groups say at least 61 people were killed during weeks of protests, initially sparked by a finance bill proposing increased taxes. 
Kenya’s Independent Medico-Legal Unit, which investigates abuses, said Wednesday that a further 67 people were victims of enforced disappearances in the days and weeks that followed, with 27 still missing.
“We were horrified to hear that people who have been abducted have been held for 30 days or more… without access to medical treatment, their families, they haven’t been presented in a court of law,” said Amnesty Kenya executive director Irungu Houghton, calling for the immediate release of those still held.
The protests ballooned into wider action against President William Ruto and what many see as profligate government spending and corruption.
Amnesty’s petition marks three months since the most dramatic day when protesters stormed the parliament building in Nairobi on 25 June. 
Based on footage and eyewitness interviews, Amnesty said police unlawfully used lethal weapons against peaceful protesters, killing at least six people that day. 
“The right to protest in Kenya is protected under the constitution. It is unacceptable that, rather than facilitating and protecting protesters, police resorted to using deadly force,” said Houghton. 
– Tear gas and rifles –
Police fired tear gas grenades “directly at protesters, sometimes at head-level”, he said, adding that tear gas had been fired into at least two medical tents.
“Isolated acts of violence do not justify the use of tear gas, since it has a wide area effect. Under no circumstances should it be fired directly at individuals,” said Faith Odhiambo, president of the Law Society of Kenya, in Amnesty’s report. 
Amnesty said it identified specific rifles, submachine guns and shotguns used by police, adding that many were not in uniform and using unmarked vehicles.
At one point, the footage shows men in civilian dress firing dozens of times on protesters, most with their hands up, the group said.
Amnesty’s report contains testimony from a protester who lost consciousness in the parliament building and woke up in a dark room guarded by two men. 
He was interrogated about how the protests were funded before being driven blindfolded and dumped on a Nairobi roadside. 
“What we want to see now is action,” said Hussein Khalid, of rights group VOCAL Africa, at Tuesday’s protest.
“Kenyans cannot be dying left right and centre, killed by the same bullets that they pay for as taxpayers.”
By Rose Troup Buchanan