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Kenya: Preacher Mackenzie decries prison hardship, says ready to die

Author: Chany Ninrew | Published: August 7, 2023

Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie in court in Malindi, Kenya, earlier this month. | Photo: Simon Maina / AFP - Getty Images

Kenya’s doomsday preacher Paul Mackenzie, who stands accused of orchestrating mass starvation and the deaths of his followers to meet Biblical Jesus, has decried being subjected to hardship in prison.

Mackenzie reportedly complained to the court about his alleged inhumane treatment, saying he has been jailed in an isolated dark cell and denied the chance to bathe for two days.

The self-proclaimed end-times prophet said he and his associates are ready and willing to die from the difficulties.

“My colleagues and I have made a decision. If you feel tired of me and my colleagues, we are ready to be taken to River Yala. We do not have a problem with that because I will die, and you the prosecutor will someday die like me. There is nowhere you can hide,” he told a court magistrate, according to Nation newspaper.

I am being held in a dark room. And my request for at least an hour in the sun has been flatly denied. I feel unheard and ignored, and I am not sure who or where else I can turn to for help. If I go to the prosecution for help, they reject me because they see me as radicalized,” he continued.

His lawyer also claims Mackenzie is being served food that he feared to be contaminated with the intention to harm him.

The leader of the Good News International Church and his jailed associates are also said to be threatening to go on a hunger strike to protest the treatment.

He is accused of manipulating his followers into seeking salvation, and dozens died in the process of fasting so as to meet Jesus as promised by their preacher.

Mackenzie himself and his associates were said to be served a healthy balanced diet as his followers starved.

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