[JURIST] Rights activists in Kenya [JURIST news archive] have faced threats since the release in February of a UN report [text] accusing the government of widespread extrajudicial executions, prompting some to leave the country or go into hiding [AP report], according to AP Saturday. Western Kenya activists have reportedly been followed by intelligence agents and have received harassing phone calls. Job Bwonya of Western Kenya Human Rights Watch [backgrounder] decided to flee to Uganda [JURIST news archive] after government officials demanded that he give them a list of witnesses he arranged to be interviewed for the report. By AP's count, four activists have left the country, and 10 have gone underground.

In his report on on extra-judicial killings in Kenya, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Philip Alston [official website; JURIST news archive] said killings by the police were "systematic, widespread and carefully planned" and that they were committed with "utter impunity." Earlier this month, Alston called for an independent investigation [JURIST report] into the killings of Kenyan rights activists Oscar Kamau Kingara [advocacy profile] and John Paul Oulu. Last week, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga [official profile, BBC profile] announced that FBI [official website] agents from the US Embassy in Nairobi [official website] would assist in investigating [press release] the killing of the two men.