Nine Students Charged with Murder Over Kenya School Fire That Killed 16

Kenyan authorities charged nine students with murder in connection with the May fire at Utumishi Girls' School in the Rift Valley that killed at least 16 girls. Investigators determined the fire was deliberately set. Prosecutors are seeking life sentences under Kenyan law, where the death penalty was effectively abolished in 2017. The charges complete the investigative phase; trials now proceed through Kenya's overburdened court system.