A Kenyan court on Monday determined that police acted unlawfully in the killing of Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif in October 2022. The decision follows a complaint lodged by Sharif’s widow, her lawyer, and local media.
Sharif, a strong supporter of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, was fatally shot in the head when Kenyan police opened fire on his car. He had fled Pakistan in August 2022 after facing multiple sedition charges across various cities. Initially staying in the United Arab Emirates, Sharif later moved to Kenya, where he was killed.
His widow, Javeria Siddique, along with two journalist groups in Kenya, filed a complaint last year against top police and legal officials over the “arbitrary and unlawful killing” of Sharif and the respondents’ “consequent failure to investigate.”
On Monday, the High Court in Kajiado, a town south of Nairobi, rejected the police claim that the killing was a case of mistaken identity, where officers believed they were firing on a stolen vehicle involved in an abduction.
Judge Stella Mutuku ruled that Sharif’s murder was unconstitutional and that his rights to life and protection were violated. “I find that the respondents, jointly and severally through their actions, violated the rights of the petitioners,” Mutuku stated, according to The Nation.
Siddique’s lawyer, Ochiel Dudley, confirmed the ruling to AFP, describing it as a “great precedent for police accountability.” He stated that the ruling found “Kenya violated Arshad Sharif’s right to life, dignity, and freedom from torture, cruel, and degrading treatment.”
The court ordered the government to pay 10 million Kenyan shillings (Rs21.7 million) in compensation. It also directed the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Independent Policing Oversight Authority to conclude their investigations and charge the two police officers involved.
In a post on X, Siddique said: “Me and all of you have won Arshad Sharif’s case in Kenya.”