Killer’ cop Rashid faces murder charge—IPOA

A police officer whose reign in the capital has been marked with allegations of human rights abuses is facing a murder charge.

Police officer Ahmed Rashid, the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) said, is implicated in the deaths of Jamal Mohamed and Mohamed Dahir Kheri.

The shooting occurred in Eastleigh, Nairobi on March 31, 2017.

The Director of Public Prosecution has upheld IPOA’s findings that there is sufficient evidence to charge Rashid with murder, the police watchdog said in a statement.

“Today, IPOA moved to the High Court at Milimani, Nairobi, and obtained summons against the police officer, to attend court and take plea on December 8, 2022,” IPOA chairperson Ann Makori said.

Rashid was domiciled at Pangani police station.

Missing Voices’ 2021 report showed the station was a hotbed of extrajudicial killings.

Of the 182 police killings that Missing Voices recorded across Kenya in 2021, 30 are linked to the Pangani police station, some allegedly by Rashid.

Rashid led an infamous police squad, Pangani Six, known for unlawful killings of criminal suspects.

In 2017, Rashid was caught on camera shooting at two unarmed men in Eastleigh, even after they surrendered.

Rashid would have been arraigned a long time ago, but there was no political goodwill, IPOA commissioner John Waiganjo told NTV early this month.

“We had an Inspector General who was impervious. We had a DCI who wanted perhaps to use him for other purposes,” Waiganjo claimed.