appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Agence France-Presse

The leader of a Kenyan doomsday cult went on trial on Monday on charges of terrorism over the deaths of more than 400 of his followers in a macabre case that shocked the country and the world.
Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie appeared in court in the Indian Ocean port city of Mombasa along with 94 co-defendants.
Journalists were removed from the courtroom shortly after the start of the hearing to enable a protected witness to take the stand.
Mackenzie, who was arrested in April last year, is alleged to have incited his acolytes to starve to death to “meet Jesus”.
He and his co-accused all pleaded not guilty to the charges of terrorism at a hearing in January.
They also face charges of murder, manslaughter, kidnapping, and child torture and cruelty in separate cases.

The remains of more than 440 people have been unearthed so far in a remote wilderness inland from the Indian Ocean coastal town of Malindi, in a case that has been dubbed the “Shakahola forest massacre”.
Autopsies have found that while starvation appeared to be the main cause of death, some of the victims – including children – were strangled, beaten, or suffocated.
Previous court documents also said that some of the bodies had had their organs removed.
Mackenzie, a former taxi driver, turned himself in on April 14 after police acting on a tip-off first entered Shakahola forest, where mass graves have been found.
In March, the authorities began releasing some victims’ bodies to distraught relatives after months of painstaking work to identify them using DNA.
Questions have been raised about how Mackenzie, a self-styled pastor with a history of extremism, managed to evade law enforcement despite his prominent profile and previous legal cases.

Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki last year accused Kenyan police of laxity in investigating the initial reports of starvation.
“The Shakahola massacre is the worst breach of security in the history of our country,” he told a senate committee hearing, vowing to “relentlessly push for legal reforms to tame rogue preachers”.
The state-backed Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) in March criticised security officers in Malindi for “gross abdication of duty and negligence”.
The horrific saga has seen President William Ruto vow to intervene in Kenya’s home-grown religious movements.
In largely Christian Kenya, it has also thrown a spotlight on failed efforts to regulate unscrupulous churches and cults that have dabbled in criminality.


Digital Silk Road: Hong Kong acts as financial bridge between China and MENA

Hong Kong finance chief urges Cathay to keep fares attractive, add routes

Uganda buries ‘boy king’ whose death sparked succession battle

China bets on early port and power deals in Sudan to secure post-war economic edge

Africa

Kenya cult leader faces terrorism charges after 400 killed in ‘Shakahola forest massacre’

Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie (left) is surrounded by Kenya Police Officers as he appears at the Shanzu Law Courts in Mombasa on January 18, 2024. Photo: AFP/File

Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie (left) is accused of inciting cult followers to starve to death “to meet Jesus”. Photo: AFP

A mass-grave site is seen in Shakahola, outside the coastal town of Malindi, Kenya The leader of a Kenyan doomsday cult went on trial on Monday on charges of terrorism over the deaths of more than 400 of his followers. Photo: AFP

Migrants face ‘unimaginable horrors’ crossing Africa to reach Mediterranean, says UN

Irregular Nigerian migrants are given documents prior to their June departure from Libya’s anti-migration bureau, which is tasked with coordinating deportations of foreigners in the country illegally. Photo: AFP

Migrants expelled from Algeria are forced to walk into the Sahara desert, in this screenshot from a video. File photo: AP/Ju Dennis

Nigerian migrants board a bus in June at Libya’s anti-migration bureau, which is tasked with coordinating deportations of foreigners in the country illegally. Photo: AFP

Kenya’s William Ruto vows tough response after anti-tax protests turn deadly

A protester lobs back a teargas canister at police in downtown Nairobi. Photo: AFP

Demonstrators try to breach a door at the parliament building in Nairobi, Kenya. Photo: EPA-EFE

Anti-riot police clash with protesters. Photo: EPA-EFE

Protesters on the grounds of the Kenyan parliament. Photo: AP

Demonstrators block a road with a makeshift barricade. Photo: EPA-EFE

Kenya force deployed to Haiti to tackle gang violence

Kenyan police officers attend a pre-departure briefing in Nairobi, Kenya. Photo: William Samoei Ruto via X

Kenya’s President William Ruto at a departure ceremony for the police officers. Photo: Presidential Communication Service via EPA-EFE

Armed gang members walk through the streets of in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. File photo: Reuters

Kenya cult leader, who incited followers to starve to death to ‘meet Jesus’ charged with murdering 191 children

Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie was charged with 191 counts of murder on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, who set up the Good News International Church in 2003 and is accused of inciting cult followers to starve to death “to meet Jesus”, appears in the dock with other co-accused at the court in Malindi on May 2, 2023. Photo: AFP

Kenyan cult leader told followers to starve themselves ahead of ‘world’s end’

Members of the Kenya Red Cross help an emaciated woman in Shakahola forest of Kilifi county, Kenya. Photo: Reuters

The morgue at the state-run Malindi Sub-County Hospital is already stretched well beyond capacity with dozens of bodies. Photo: Reuters

Stephen Mwiti, whose wife and six children joined the cult and are feared dead. Photo: Reuters

A mass gravesite in Shakahola, outside the coastal town of Malindi, Kenya. Photo: AFP

News

World

Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie is alleged to have incited his acolytes to starve to death to ‘meet Jesus’


Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, who was arrested in April last year, is alleged to have incited his acolytes to starve to death to “meet Jesus”.


Religion

Cults

Terrorism

Kenya

Kenya cult leader faces terrorism charges after 400 killed in ‘Shakahola forest massacre’

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie is alleged to have incited his acolytes to starve to death to ‘meet Jesus’

Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie is alleged to have incited his acolytes to starve to death to ‘meet Jesus’