Kenyan Court Rules Pakistani Journalist's 2022 Shooting Unlawful

A Kenyan court ruled the 2022 police shooting of Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif as unlawful. The court criticized Kenyan authorities for failing to investigate thoroughly and ordered compensation to Sharif's family. The ruling has prompted public calls for prosecutions. Kenyan police initially attributed the shooting to mistaken identity.

A Kenyan court on Monday ruled that the 2022 shooting death of a Pakistani journalist by police in Nairobi was unlawful and unconstitutional, according to a lawyer and his family.

Justice Stella Mutuku's ruling also faulted Kenya's attorney general and the director of public prosecutions for laxity in investigating the shooting of Arshad Sharif, after police opened fire at his car at a roadblock checkpoint.

Sharif's family accused an elite Kenyan police unit of intentionally killing Sharif. The 50-year-old journalist had fled Pakistan earlier that year to avoid arrest on charges of maligning Pakistan's national institutions.

A panel of Pakistani investigators in December 2022 concluded that the killing was a "planned assassination". Their report suggested that the bullet that fatally wounded Sharif was fired from inside the car or close range.

Kenyan authorities are still investigating and no police officers linked to the shooting have been arrested or charged.

In Monday's verdict, the court asked Kenyan authorities to conclude their probe. The court also ordered the government to compensate Sharif's family 10 million Kenyan shillings (USD 78,000).

Dudley Ochiel, a lawyer for Sharif's widow, Javeria Siddique, said the ruling was a "big win for the family and friends in Kenya, Pakistan and worldwide".

Ochiel expects the public prosecutor to file a case against two officers suspected of fatally shooting Sharif at the roadblock.

The killing shook Pakistan, with thousands attending Sharif's funeral.

Pakistan has maintained that no state institution was involved in his death.

Siddique, who filed a complaint against Kenyan police with journalists' unions, said although her husband would not return, "everyone now knows he was killed intentionally".

The police initially blamed the shooting on "mistaken identity" during a search for a similar car linked to a child abduction case.

(With inputs from agencies.)