Uproar in Garissa after protesters bring body to police station, accuse officers of killing

Operations at Garissa police station were paralysed yesterday following a protest by members of the public who brought the body of a victim of an alleged police shooting, demanding justice.

Heavily armed police officers with teargas canisters took strategic positions at the entrance of the station, with protesters demanding that they will not leave with the body until the alleged killer police officer is brought to justice.

Local leaders who were holed up in a meeting with police officers for the better part of yesterday vowed to never bury the deceased Aden Mohamed Hassan until officers involved are arrested.

Abdiaziz Dere, who had been handcuffed and was said to be with the deceased at the time of the shooting, was seemingly traumatised and is said to have fled the scene after the shooting.

Dere said he had asked his friend to come for him after police detained him while he was on his way to Garissa Town from Dadaab.

 ‎"We are demanding justice. Aden is someone I have grown up with, went to the same duksi and secondary school. I'm pained by his death," said Abdirizack Noor.
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‎He said it's been a trend by police to kill innocent residents instead of protecting them and nothing is done.

Local political leaders and activists also asked the investigative authorities to speedily investigate and brought to the book the officer alleging a plot by the police to cover up the alleged murder of the young man.

At the office of the police commander, tempers flared up with leaders demanding the duty roster of police, including the fire number to establish the officer who shot the taxi driver.

“We are told Chalo, the officer who shot this young man, crossed the bridge. We are asking how you fled without being noticed. This is not the first incident of police shooting in Garissa and we are not going to leave this until that officer is arrested and arraigned,” said Garissa women representative Udgoon Siyat.

The women representative flunked by local ward representatives claimed this is the third incident of extrajudicial killings, with no one taking the police to account.

Dadaab ward representative Mohamed Abdi Farah said they will not bury the deceased until the government pathologist comes and a post-mortem report is given, with a view to finding justice for the young man.

“The deceased comes from my ward. Burying the victims of police brutality has been our biggest undoing. This one we are not going to bury until the investigation is over and the culprits are arrested,” said Modogashe ward representative.

He claimed the police have turned into bandits, shooting and killing innocent citizens instead of protecting them, adding that the killing was intentional and brutal.

“We demand nothing short of justice; we will continue with protest until we see that officer in handcuffs and arraigned in court,” he said.

 Baraki ward Representative Hassan Geley claimed a plot by the police to cover up the killing, saying the suspect had been driven by a police vehicle out of Garissa to an unknown place.

“We want IPOA and the police to produce the firearm used by the officer to kill this young man and that vehicle that they were using; these police have a tendency to harass and kill people with impunity,” he said.

Geley claimed the police station at Modika has been intruding on travellers' phone numbers, harassing anyone found Somalia phone numbers, as well as looking into people’s M-Pesa balances.

“The guns that were meant to protect people are now killing innocent young people out to work for their daily bread,” he added.

The deceased, according to family members, has left behind an expectant wife having lost his first child during childbirth.
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‎"We don't want this case to be like any other cases of police extrajudicial killings that have gone unresolved. We are demanding immediate arrest of the officers involved," said Muktar Osman, Garissa Human Rights Network.
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‎The activists are also demanding the disbandment of the whole Garissa county security committee, saying they have failed to protect residents.

‎ Speaking to the press at his office, Northeastern Regional police commander Nzioka Matasi said they have handed over the case to IPOA to investigate, adding that they have given them the necessary support to ensure justice is found.

“Our officers were on patrol and a young man was shot. IPOA has taken over the investigation; the allegation of cover-up is not there because it's IPOA that is doing the investigation,” he said.