MOMBASA: A human rights organisation has petitioned the acting Inspector General of Police over the disappearance of a man picked up by people who claimed to be police officers outside a mosque two weeks ago.
Wednesday, Haki Africa Executive Director Hussein Khalid wrote to acting IG Samuel Arachi to inquire the whereabouts of the 26-year old man identified as Jabran Mbarak.
Khalid said Mbarak was reportedly picked up outside Masjid Noor Mosque in Malindi on January 22 at about 5pm after attending prayers.
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"As an organisation, Haki Africa is deeply disturbed by the inaction of police on matters concerning killings and disappearances of religious leaders and youth at the Coast," the letter read in part.
The letter was copied to the Chairperson of the Commission on Administrative Justice Otiende Amolo and Malindi OCS.
Malindi OCPD George Losku Ali maintained Wednesday that the men who reportedly picked up Mbarak and bundled him into a waiting white Probox Toyota car were not police officers.
He, however, said police were investigating the incident. Mbarak was a Bachelor of Commerce student at Mount Kenya University, Malindi campus and an accounts clerk at a local petrol station.
"I am appealing to residents to demand that people who claim to be police officers identify themselves before they can make arrests," Mr Ali said.
Khalid said every citizen has a right to security as enshrined in Article 29 of the Constitution and complained that police at the Coast were either unwilling or unable to bring to book perpetrators of killings and disappearances of residents.
"This laxity by police is causing tension in the region and exacerbating what is already a precarious security situation," he said.
Mbarak's kin, who said they reported the matter at the Malindi Police Station, claimed no information has been forthcoming about his whereabouts so far.IG
"Those who witnessed the incident have provided the registration number of the vehicle and we gave police the details, but there appears to have been no progress in the investigations," said his sister, Johra Mbarak.
"Our brother is a peace-loving man and we do not understand who picked him up and why," Johra said.
