Four years ago, on 23 October 2022, the Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif was shot dead by Kenyan police at a roadblock near Nairobi.
Sharif, a news anchor for ARY News, had reported critically on alleged corruption among Pakistan’s ruling elite. He faced ongoing harassment for his reporting, including more than 16 lawsuits and death threats, before he fled Pakistan in fear for his life, eventually reaching Kenya.
Kenyan police said he had been shot in a case of mistaken identity during a search for a stolen vehicle. The vehicle they named was a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van, registration KDJ 700F. Sharif was travelling in a Toyota Land Cruiser, registration KDG 200M, heading in the opposite direction from the route the stolen van would have taken. Those discrepancies, the proximity of the shooting and the trajectory of the bullets have since led many to suspect he was targeted.
In July 2024 the High Court at Kajiado ruled the killing “arbitrary, unproportionate, unlawful and unconstitutional”, and ordered that the officers responsible be prosecuted.
In June this year Kenya’s Supreme Court dismissed an appeal seeking their prosecution. It reaffirmed that his right to life had been violated, but held that it could not compel the Director of Public Prosecutions to bring charges. In Pakistan, the Federal Constitutional Court closed its own case in February. Four years on, there has still been no justice in either country, and no one has been arrested or charged.
With domestic avenues exhausted, Media Defence is taking the case to international mechanisms. We continue to stand alongside Javeria Siddique, journalist and Arshad’s wife, in her pursuit of justice. She has faced sustained online and physical harassment in retaliation for speaking out on his behalf.
Read more about the High Court judgment.
Read more about Sharif’s case.
