Widow of slain Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif sues Kenyan police

A widow of a Pakistani journalist who was shot dead by police in Kenya after he fled arrest in his home country filed a lawsuit against Kenyan police on Monday, her lawyer said.

Arshad Sharif, a strident critic of establishment and supporter of former premier Imran Khan, died when Kenyan police opened fire on his car at a roadblock outside the capital Nairobi in October last year.

Javeria Siddique, one of Sharif’s two wives, told reporters in Islamabad last week that she was filing a lawsuit. Her lawyer confirmed it had been lodged at Kenya’s High Court on Monday, a year to the day since the late-night killing.

“Yes. The case has been filed,” lawyer Ochiel Dudley told reporters in Nairobi, adding that they were waiting for a case number and further instructions from the court. “It has been a year that I have been fighting for justice,” Siddique said. “The Kenyan police admitted that they killed my husband but never apologised.”

Last year, Kenyan officials said it was a case of mistaken identity and officers believed they were firing on a stolen vehicle involved in an abduction.

Siddique, however, alleges her husband was killed in a “targeted attack.” “I have written to the Kenyan president and foreign minister but they were not even kind enough to say sorry,” she added.

Sharif fled Pakistan in August last year, days after interviewing a senior opposition politician who said junior officers in Pakistan’s military should disobey orders that went against “the will of the majority.”

Tens of thousands of mourners attended Sharif’s funeral at Islamabad’s main mosque. Pakistan’s top court has taken note of the murder but the case is still pending.

In December, a factfinding team of Pakistani intelligence officials submitted a report to the Supreme Court calling the incident a “planned, targeted assassination” that purportedly involved “transnational characters.”

Press freedom campaign groups have called for those responsible to face justice. “Throughout the past year, I have endured financial and emotional losses and have even been subjected to character assassination,” Siddique said.

Agence France-Presse