After what has been a reign of terror characterised by brutal execution of suspected criminals for over half a decade, one of Kenya’s most controversial police officers Ahmed Rashid is finally set to have his day in court and charged with murder…
Mr Rashid, a sergeant attached to Pangani Police station has for years run one of the most untouchable and feared crack units in Kenya accused of carrying out extra-judicial killings in Eastleigh, Pangani and Mathare slums without any consequences.
Pangani Six,’ the infamous team of plainclothes police officers that he commands is not only feared in the areas it controls but its streak of impunity as the face of police brutality has grown so much across the world that global broadcaster BBC once sent a team to patrol with it.
“Those we profile we have to get them alive or dead,” he told the BBC after he shot to fame when a video of him shooting two unarmed teenagers who had surrendered and was lying down begging for his life went viral in 2017.
Yet, despite the circumstances of the shooting, which happened in broad daylight and with dozens of witnesses, a lack of political goodwill by the former government left Rashid to create one of the most feared reigns of terror by a police unit.
Suspected victims
This reign of terror may have finally met the beginning of its end after the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) chairperson Anne Makori today, Thursday said that Mr Rashid will be charged with the murder of two of his suspected victims Jamal Mohamed and Mohamed Dhair Kheri, The two were unarmed when they were fatally shot on March 31, 2017, on suspicion of engaging in crime within the Eastleigh neighbourhood.
https://nation.africa/kenya/news/ahmed-rashid-kenya-s-untouchable-police-officer-falls-4032108
