Iran Press/ Africa: Police believe most of the bodies discovered near the coastal town of Malindi are those of Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, a former taxi driver and self-proclaimed “pastor” of the Good News International Church he founded.
The region’s prefect, Rhoda Onyancha, said 26 people had been arrested so far, including Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and a “band of guards” tasked with making sure no followers broke the hunger strike or escaped the forest.
Paul Mackenzie turned himself in to authorities on April 14, after police found the first victims in Shakahola Forest. Since then, approximately 50 mass graves have been discovered. Investigators will pause the exhumations for the next two days to reorganize their operations, which should resume on Tuesday, Onyancha said.
Autopsies performed on the first bodies show that most of the victims died of starvation, probably after following Paul Nthenge Mackenzie’s sermons. Some victims, among them children, were, however, strangled, beaten or suffocated, recently declared the head of forensic operations, Johansen Oduor. Autopsies also revealed that some victims had missing organs.
This massacre reignited the debate over the regulation of cults in Kenya, a predominantly Christian country with 4,000 “churches”, according to official figures.
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