Kenyan court rules police killing of Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif unlawful
ISLAMABAD: Kenya’s High Court has declared the 2022 police killing of Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif unlawful and ordered authorities to initiate criminal proceedings against two police officers involved in the incident, a lawyer representing Sharif’s widow said on Monday.
Sharif was a strong critic of Pakistan’s powerful military and was seen as a staunch supporter of Pakistan’s now-jailed former prime minister, Imran Khan. He left Pakistan in August 2022 after being charged with sedition over an interview with an 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 popular primetime news anchor was assassinated in Kenya on October 23, 2022. Initially, Kenyan media reported that Sharif was shot dead by police in a case of “mistaken identity”, citing local police. Subsequent reports said that a man in a car opened fire on officers from the Kenya Paramilitary Integrated Services Command when Sharif was killed.
Sharif’s widow, Javeria Siddiq, along with the Kenya Union of Journalists and the Kenya Correspondents’ Association, filed a lawsuit last year against Kenyan government officials for “arbitrary and unlawful killing” and “failure to investigate.” After three hearings, the court reserved its verdict on May 8 and announced the verdict today, Monday.
“The Kenyan High Court in its verdict declared the killing unlawful and ordered the Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA) and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to complete the pending investigations and prosecute both police officers involved and produce them before court,” Ochiel Dudley, a lawyer representing Sharif’s widow, told Arab News.
Dudley said the court ruled that the DPP and IPOA had violated the victim’s rights by failing to prosecute the two officers and that “Kenya has violated Mr Sharif’s rights to life, dignity and freedom from torture and cruel and degrading treatment.”
“The court ordered the state to pay 10 million Kenyan shillings ($78,000) with interest from the date of judgment until full payment is made to the victim’s family,” he said.
Dudley said that as a lawyer, he had appealed for the court to find that the killing was unlawful and in breach of both Kenyan and international law.
“The court has reiterated that the use of extreme force is an extreme measure and should only be used as a last resort when the lives of others are at risk,” he added.
Mr Sharif’s widow, Siddique, praised the Kenyan court for delivering the verdict within a year.
“Today’s verdict is very welcome because Arshad’s case had not been heard in a Pakistani court for a year, while the Kenyan court handed down its verdict in less than a year,” she told Arab News.
Siddiq expressed gratitude to the court for accepting all her pleas.
“Most importantly, the court recognized that Sharif’s killing was a targeted killing and not a case of mistaken identity,” she said. “This decision will be of great importance in ensuring freedom of the press and freedom of expression in the future.”
She said the Kenyan police officers were actually “hired hitmen” and called on Pakistani authorities to take action against those responsible for Sharif’s murder.
Mr Sharif was on the run in Kenya, where he said his life was in danger, when he was killed outside Nairobi in a killing that shocked Pakistani journalists as well as the Pakistani public, who widely supported Mr Sharif.
Last year, Pakistan’s then Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said that based on the initial findings of a Pakistani investigation team that visited Kenya, there was evidence that Sharif’s killing was targeted. Sharif’s body bore bruises and signs of torture, he added.
