Kenyan Jesus Cult Leader Charged With Terrorism

Al Jazeera reports:

A Kenyan court has charged cult leader Paul Mackenzie with “terrorism”-related crimes over the deaths of 429 of his followers. The self-proclaimed pastor was charged along with 94 others on Thursday over the deaths of followers whose bodies have been exhumed from the Shakahola forest near the Indian Ocean.

The charges, announced during an appearance before a court in the southeastern city of Mombasa, are the first to be brought against him.

Authorities allege that Mackenzie, the head of the Good News International Church, incited his acolytes in southeastern Kenya to starve themselves and their children to death so they could go to heaven before the world ended. Autopsies revealed that the majority had died of hunger. But others, including children, appeared to have been strangled, beaten or suffocated.

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Kenya cult leader Paul Mackenzie charged with ‘terrorism’ over the starvation deaths of 429 of his followers https://t.co/sesusipXAz pic.twitter.com/JYafV4giD5

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) January 18, 2024

A Kenyan court has charged the leader of a starvation cult with terrorism over the deaths of more than 400 of his followers.https://t.co/zE2jldc19Z

— RTÉ News (@rtenews) January 18, 2024