Kenya’s Interior Ministry has dismissed reports that the grave site of anti-colonial freedom fighter Dedan Kimathi has been found.

Kimathi, a leader of the 1950s Mau Mau uprising against British colonial rule, was executed in 1957.

He was buried in an unmarked grave, which his family has called on the government to search for.

On Friday, a foundation set up in his name claimed to have identified his grave at Nairobi’s Kamiti prison.

But in a statement a day later, Kenya’s Interior Ministry dismissed the claims as “false”.

“Please note these claims are FALSE and MISLEADING,” the ministry tweeted.

In the past, several attempts have been made to identify the spot where the body was buried.

When the previous president, Mwai Kibaki, came to power in 2003, he promised to make finding the grave a priority.

A number of people who claimed to have witnessed the burial led officials to spots within Kamiti prison but they found nothing.

Instead, the government built a monument in central Nairobi in honour of the Mau Mau fighter.

Update: 26 October 2019. This post has been updated to reflect the Kenyan government’s denial of the grave discovery.