A Kenyan court ruled on Monday that police actions in the 2022 murder of a Pakistani journalist following a complaint from his widow were unlawful, her lawyer and local media reported.
Arshad Sharif, a fierce critic of Pakistan’s powerful military establishment and a supporter of former prime minister Imran Khan, was shot in the head in October 2022 when Kenyan police opened fire on his car.
Last year, Sharif’s widow, Javeria Siddiq, and two Kenyan journalists’ organisations filed a complaint against top police and judicial officials, alleging his “arbitrary and unlawful killing” and their “subsequent failure to investigate”.
On Monday, a high court in Kajiado, a town south of Nairobi, rejected police arguments that the killing was a case of mistaken identity and that officers believed they had fired at a stolen vehicle involved in the kidnapping.
According to Kenyan media, Judge Stella Mutuku ruled that Sharif’s killing was unconstitutional and that his right to life and protection had been violated.
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“The defendants jointly and severally admit that through their conduct they have violated the plaintiffs’ rights,” Mutuku told The Nation.
Mr Siddiq’s lawyer, Okir Dudley, confirmed the verdict and told AFP it set a “great precedent for police accountability”.
He said the ruling found that “Kenya had violated Mr Arshad Sharif’s rights to life, dignity and freedom from torture and cruel and degrading treatment.”
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He said the court had ordered the government to pay 10 million Kenyan shillings ($78,000) in compensation.
A Kenyan court said the director of public prosecutions and the independent police watchdog had violated Sharif’s rights by failing to prosecute the two officers involved, Dudley added.
He said he had ordered both agencies to complete their investigations and charge the two officers.
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Sharif fled Pakistan in August 2022, days after an interview with a senior opposition politician in which he said junior officers in the Pakistani army should not follow orders that go against the “will of the majority.”
The country has been ruled by the military for decades of its 75-year history and criticism of the security services has long been seen as a red line.
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