Latest news with #sexualtorture
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fact Check: Unpacking rumor about Alabama Young Republican arrested on murder, sexual torture charges
Claim: An Alabama man who was a member of a Young Republicans group and a campaign chairman for a state senator was arrested on charges of sexual torture and murder. Rating: Context: Though social media posts about the case spread widely in summer 2025, the arrest occurred in March 2024. In early August 2025, rumors circulated online that an Alabama man who worked as campaign chairman for Republican state Sen. Tom Butler and was a member of the Madison County Young Republicans was arrested on charges of sexual torture and murder. The claim made the rounds across social media platforms such as Facebook (archived, archived) and X (archived, archived), with some users pointing to the rumor as apparent evidence of hypocrisy within the Republican Party. Snopes readers reached out as far back as February 2025 with questions about the alleged crime and the suspect's connection to the Alabama GOP. The rumor was true, although the arrest occurred more than a year before the social media posts spread in summer 2025. Local news media and other outlets such as People magazine covered the arrest of Kyle Haden Lewter in March 2024. Lewter's mug shot and arrest record are available to view on the Madison County Sheriff's Office website, at the time of this writing. According to multiple local news reports, authorities initially arrested Lewter on suspicion of murder in the death of 54-year-old Derek Franklin Walls, with the charges later updated to include sexual torture and sexual abuse using an inanimate object. Although there were some reports Walls was fatally shot, the Madison County Sheriff's Office posted a statement to Facebook (archived) on March 8, 2024, that said "the victim and offender knew each other and got into a physical altercation that resulted in the victim being injured. It appears he died as a result of those injuries." According to a court document and reporting by Huntsville, Alabama, TV news station WZDX, Lewter was admitted to an inpatient mental health facility in April 2024 for evaluation but was ultimately determined "'psychiatrically stable' to participate in court proceedings" in October 2024 and returned to jail to await trial. (District Court of Madison County, Alabama) As for Lewter's political affiliation, local news outlet WAFF reported, "Lewter is listed as a member of the Madison County Young Republicans according to its website. Lewter was also listed as a point of contact. He also was a campaign chairman for State Sen. Tom Butler." In a statement to the TV station, Butler said he was "speechless" and "saddened for all families involved." In addition, WZDX reported that Lewter "was elected chairman of the Madison County Young Republicans in February 2022 according to a cross-post between his personal and the organization's Facebook pages." Lewter's Facebook profile and the alleged posts have since been deleted and are unavailable on web archiving websites. An archived page on the Madison County Republican Party website captured in December 2023, months before Lewter's arrest, listed his name, phone number and email as the point of contact for the Madison County Young Republicans. It appears the Madison County Young Republicans rebranded following Lewter's arrest. As of this writing, the same webpage listed the group as the Rocket City Young Republicans, and the group's Facebook page shows it was created in May 2024. (Huntsville is known as "Rocket City" because of its "progressive industries in aerospace, defense and biotech," according to the city's website.) According to Alabama news website Madison County Sheriff's Office spokesman Brent Patterson said the criminal case was not tied to Lewter's political activity. "The factual circumstances of this death investigation are not related to any political activities that Mr. Lewter was engaged in," he told the site. Snopes reached out to the Madison County Sheriff's Office, Madison County district attorney's office and Madison County Republican Party for comment on Lewter's case and his membership in the county's Young Republicans. We will update this article if we receive a response. "Alabama Commission Awards $731.33 for Derek Walls' Murder Expenses." 1 Jul. 2025, "Alabama GOP Activist Accused of Murder, Sexual Torture of Man." Accessed 5 Aug. 2025. Clubs | 8 Dec. 2023, ---. Accessed 5 Aug. 2025. Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau. Accessed 5 Aug. 2025. "Kyle Lewter Found Competent to Stand Trial, Will Return to Madison County Jail." 12 Oct. 2024, "Kyle Lewter Motion - Competency - Return To Court | PDF | Separation Of Powers | Law Of The United States." Scribd, Accessed 5 Aug. 2025. "New Court Documents Reveal Disturbing Details in Kyle Lewter's Murder Case." 12 Mar. 2024, Reports, Staff. "Ardmore Son Attending Trump Inaugural." Athens The News Courier, 18 Jan. 2017, "Rocket City Young Republicans." Rocket City Young Republicans, Accessed 5 Aug. 2025. Staff, WAFF 48 Digital. "Madison County Murder Suspect Now Facing Sex Abuse Charges." 8 Mar. 2024, View Roster - KYLE HADEN LEWTER - Madison County Sheriff's Office. Accessed 5 Aug. 2025. Williams, Javon. "Man Charged with Murder after 54-Year-Old Found Dead in Harvest Community." 8 Mar. 2024, wthornton@ William Thornton |. "North Alabama Man Charged with Murder Has Ties to State Republican Politics." Al, 8 Mar. 2024,
BBC News
03-06-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi speaks of 'sexual torture' in Tanzania
Warning: This article contains details that some readers may find distressing.A Kenyan activist has told the BBC that he is "struggling to be alive" after allegedly being sexually tortured in detention in Tanzania last Mwangi said he had decided to speak despite the "shame and guilt of being sodomised with all manner of things".Mwangi said he was held in Tanzania after going to the country to show solidarity with detained opposition politician Tundu a press conference in Kenya's capital, Mwangi tearfully claimed that he was stripped naked, hung upside down, beaten on his feet and sexually assaulted while police chief in Tanzania's main city of Dar es Salaam disputed Mwangi's account and told the BBC they were "opinions" and "hearsay" coming from activists. "If they were here, I would engage them, I would ask them what are they saying, what do they mean... In law, those things are called hearsay or hearsay evidence," Jumanne Muliro told the said Mwangi should make a report to the authorities for President Samia Suluhu Hassan's government has been accused by rights groups of becoming increasingly repressive in the run-up to October's presidential and parliamentary rights groups have called for an investigation, and Amnesty International said Tanzanian authorities should hold to account those responsible for the "inhuman" said he was held by Tanzanian authorities for several days along with Ugandan activist Agather Atuhaire, who had earlier also spoken of being raped in attended the press conference in Nairobi on Monday, where Mwangi described his sexual assault in graphic detail. He said his torturers would sexually assault him and tell him to say "asante" (thank you in the Swahili language) to their added that the officers told him they were filming everything and would leak the footage if he spoke about what he had gone told the BBC Newsday programme that the torture had left him in mental anguish."You have a lot of nightmares, you have a lot of thoughts, and you're alone in the dark, and you're thinking you're going to get killed. So that entire mental anguish lives with you," he activist alleges she was raped while in Tanzanian detentionTanzania president warns 'meddling' Kenyan activistsMwangi said he wanted his medical records be made public so that "what happened to me should never happen to anyone else"."I have wounds all over my body, I have wounds on my private parts, I have wounds on my feet, I have two broken toes, I have fractures… So I'm still struggling".Mwangi and Atuhaire were among several activists who travelled to Tanzania two weeks ago in solidarity with Lissu who was appearing in court on treason charges that he denies. He has been demanding sweeping changes, saying current laws do not allow for free and fair polls, which the government was arrested on 9 April following his rallying call of "no reforms, no election". Mwangi told the BBC that their visit to Tanzania was to highlight Lissu's "sham case", adding that this "wasn't taken lightly" by the Hassan warned at the time that she would not allow activists from neighbouring countries to "meddle" in Tanzania's whereabouts of Mwangi and Atuhaire were unknown while they were being held, sparking widespread said his "abduction" was shocking in how brazen it was as he had been "picked from a very prominent hotel". "So having been abducted during broad daylight and never knowing where I was, and I was still tortured, means that the Tanzanian government doesn't care about what people think about it," he told the Atuhaire said that despite Uganda being "very dictatorial", she did not imagine she "would find a worse foreign country, a worse government".Mwangi said their experience showed "how broken" countries in East Africa were. "So it makes me more of a pan-African in this fight," he told the US Department of State's Bureau of Africa Affairs previously said it was deeply concerned by the reports of the two activists' mistreatment, noting that Atuhaire had been recognised by the department "in 2024 as an International Women of Courage Awardee".Other activists, including Kenya's former Justice Minister Martha Karua and former Chief Justice Willy Mutunga were blocked from entering and were deported from the international airport in Dar es reporting by Munira Hussein in Dar es Salaam. You may also be interested in: Kenyan president apologises to Tanzania over deportation rowCould this be the end of the road for Lissu, Tanzania's great survivor?Why Samia's hesitant reforms are fuelling Tanzanian political anger'Manhandled and choked' - Tanzanian activist recounts abduction Go to for more news from the African us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica
