Kenyan Court Rules Pakistani Journalist’s Shooting by Police Unlawful Nairobi, Kenya
A Kenyan court ruled on Monday that the 2022 shooting death of Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif by police in Nairobi was unlawful and unconstitutional, according to a lawyer and the journalist’s family.
Judge Stella Mutuku also criticized Kenya’s Attorney General and Director of Public Prosecutions for their laxity in investigating Sharif’s death, which occurred after police opened fire on his car at a traffic checkpoint.
Arshad Sharif’s family has accused an elite unit of the Kenyan police of intentionally killing the 50-year-old journalist, who had fled Pakistan earlier in the year to avoid arrest on charges of denigrating Pakistani national institutions.
In December 2022, a group of Pakistani investigators concluded that Sharif’s murder was a “planned assassination.” Their report suggests that the bullet that fatally wounded Sharif was fired from inside the car or at close range.
Kenyan authorities continue to investigate the killing, and none of the police officers involved in the shooting have been arrested or charged.
In its verdict on Monday, the court ordered Kenyan authorities to conclude their investigation into the police officers. It also ordered the government to compensate Sharif’s family with 10 million Kenyan shillings ($78,000).
Dudley Ochiel, lawyer for Sharif’s widow, Javeria Siddique, hailed the ruling as a “huge victory for the family and friends of this man in Kenya, Pakistan and around the world.”
Mr. Ochiel said he expected the Attorney General to bring charges against the two officers suspected of shooting Mr. Sharif at the roadblock. The killing shocked Pakistan, with thousands turning out for Mr. Sharif’s funeral days later.
Pakistan has stated that no state institution was involved in his death.
Ms. Siddique, who filed the complaint against the Kenyan police along with Kenyan journalists’ unions, said that although she knew her husband would not return, “at least now everyone knows he was killed intentionally.”
Initially, police attributed the shooting to “mistaken identity” while searching for a similar car involved in a child abduction case.
