Journalists question Kenyan police's claims about Arshad Sharif's killing

Kenyan police claimed journalist was shot in the head and killed in a case of 'mistaken identity'

Several local and international journalists, including Kenyan media persons, and relevant personalities have raised questions about the Kenyan police's claims surrounding senior Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif's killing in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.

The journalist had left the country in August after he was charged with sedition cases. He died in Kenya's Nairobi after being shot, confirmed his wife, Javeria Siddique a day earlier.

The police was reported by Kenyan media as claiming that Shairf had been shot in the head and killed by the authorities on Sunday night along the Nairobi-Magadi highway in a case of “mistaken identity”.

Sharif and his driver allegedly breached a roadblock that had been set up to check on motor vehicles using the route, where there was a call for police to intercept a car similar to the one they were driving following a carjacking incident in Pangani area, Nairobi where a child was taken hostage.

Read Arshad Sharif's body being repatriated to Islamabad: Marriyum

Police sources also appear to have said that this was followed by a brief chase and shooting that left the journalist dead and the driver injured as the car rolled.

The driver was reportedly taken to a hospital where he claimed that he and his slain colleague were developers headed to Magadi.

Further details are expected to emerge as the Independent Policing Oversight Authority investigates the case.

Meanwhile, several local and Kenyan media persons have raised doubts about the official narrative.

Senior journalist Hamid Mir took to Twitter to share his concerns over the incident questioning why the police shot nine bullets on unarmed civilians.

Why Kenyan police fired nine bullets on unarmed civilians? Kenyan police violated their own law but no one arrested yet. Under Kenya’s National Police Service Act of 2011, lethal force is only justified when strictly unavoidable to protect life. https://t.co/XiQKKvRaIS

— Hamid Mir (@HamidMirPAK) October 25, 2022

He also noted that the use of lethal force appeared to be unwarranted, as per the police's version of the incident, which was in violation of Kenya's laws, and yet no arrests were made.

Another prominent journalist, Murtaza Ali Shah, shared questions Kenyan media was raising over the incident.

Questions Kenyan media is raising on the killing of Arshad Sharif #ArshadSharif pic.twitter.com/6qpV2nD48V

— Murtaza Ali Shah (@MurtazaViews) October 24, 2022

In another tweet, Shah emphasised the significance of raising such questions, adding that "journalism is not a crime".

Similar concerns were also expressed by CJ Werleman, an international journalist.

"Kenya's mainstream media," he said while sharing the front page of one of the country's largest newspapers, was not "buying what the Kenyan government is saying about the murder of Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif".

Kenya’s mainstream media isn’t buying what the Kenyan government is saying about the murder of Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif. pic.twitter.com/aDzt4Nn746

— CJ Werleman (@cjwerleman) October 25, 2022

The same frontpage was also shared by the veteran journalist Baker Atyani, observing that the local media reports "cast doubts on the police version of Arshad Sharif's killing".

Front page of The Standard, one of the largest newspapers in Kenya, casts doubts on the police version of Arshad Sharif's killing.#ArshadSharif pic.twitter.com/ixUSThU8zm

— Baker Atyani (@atyanibaker) October 24, 2022

Kenyan legal practitioner and renowned lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi also took to Twitter to share his thoughts.

I have see a photograph of the Pakistani journalist Mr. Sharif killed by the Kenyan police yesterday. Professional hit job. Noted these:
1. Bullet to the head...blood oozing from the head slightly above the left ear
2. Car is stationary/parked
3. Seat belt hastened
4. Engine off.

— Ahmednasir Abdullahi SC (@ahmednasirlaw) October 24, 2022

Claiming he had seen a photograph of Sharif after he was killed, he alleged that the scene appeared to be a "professional hit job" based on his observations.

In an interview, a Kenyan journalist Eliud Kibii also observed that the pattern in which the bullets hit the vehicle show that the target was Sharif.

Read more Journalists express shock over Arshad Sharif's killing, call for probe

Reading from the police report he noted that "there was a bullet on the left side of the windscreen where the deceased was sitting, two on the rear backside of the screen, one on the rear right door and one on the right tyre. So when you look at that there is some sense that the person who was on the left was the target because of the nature or number of the bullets."

"But without assumptions," he continued, "the gaps you see is that even if you want to immobilise a vehicle, you don't really shoot at the occupants of the vehicle without any instigation or firing because in Kenya there are laws of how the police are supposed to use their guns.

Key questions about #ArshadSharif killing.
Why was he in Nairobi? What had he gone to Magadi town? Who hosted him/ where was he staying? Why did his driver fail to stop at the police roadblock (according to police narrative}? Why did the police shoot at occupant?

— Eliud Kibii (@eliudkibii) October 24, 2022

In a separate tweet, Kibii also pointed to how it remained unclear why the police failed to stop the vehicle and then decided to shoot at the occupant.

Al Jazeera reporter Kamal Hyder also highlighted the circumstances surrounding Sharif's departure from Pakistan where he had claimed there was an "imminent threat to his life".

الجزیرہ کی یہ رپورٹ سنیں، یہ بھی وہی سوالات اٹھا رہے ہیں کہ شہید ارشد شریف کو کن وجوہات پر ملک چھوڑنا پڑا اور دبئی میں بھی نا رہنے دیا اور کیسے پاکستان میں سینیٹر اور صحافیوں پر کو ٹارچر کیا جا رہا ہے pic.twitter.com/eyWpBDbz60

— Ambreen PTI (@AmbreenPTI1) October 24, 2022

"He first went to Dubai, according to some of his close confidants that we spoke to," he added "there was a possibility of extradition from Dubai" and so he was "prompted to leave Dubai as well".

He also noted that Sharif was believed to have been "targeted deliberately for his brave outspoken journalism in which he criticised the Pakistani powerful establishment".

Also read NA resolution denounces Arshad Sharif’s killing

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf leader Fawad Chaudhry in a tweet also said that "the Kenyan media is raising more important questions than the Pakistani media on the martyrdom of Arshad Sharif, just imagine how much censorship and repression the Pakistani media is currently suffering from."

کینیا کا میڈیا ارشد شریف کی شہادت پر پاکستانی میڈیا سے زیادہ اہم سوالات اٹھا رہا ہے، اس سے اندازہ لگا لیں پاکستانی میڈیا اس وقت کتنے زیادہ سنسر شپ اور جبر کا شکار ہے اس معاملے پر طاقتور جوڈیشل کمیشن بنانا پاکستان کی جمہوریت کی ضرورت ہے ارشد شریف کا خون رائیگاں نہیں جانے دیں گے

— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) October 25, 2022

Urging the formation of a "strong judicial commission" to oversee the matter, he added that Sharif's "blood will not go in vain".

Kenyan journalist Eliud Kibii said in a tweet that police officers involved in the killing of Sharif were ordered to surrender their weapons for ballistic tests.

“Investigators will also talk to the driver and owner of the shooting range where they had been earlier on Sunday,” he added.

UPDATE: Police officers involved in the shooting and killing of #ArshadSharif ordered to surrender their weapons for ballistic tests. Investigators will also talk to the driver and owner of the shooting range where they had been earlier on Sunday.

— Eliud Kibii (@eliudkibii) October 25, 2022

Meanwhile, the body of slain journalist is expected to arrive in Islamabad by 2am, said journalist Brian Obuya.

UPDATE|| Body of murdered Pakistani Newsman #AshradSharif is expected in Islamabad by about 2am PST, 12am EAT, T pic.twitter.com/bxwyhMQSaP

— Brian Obuya (@ItsBrianObuya) October 25, 2022

It may be noted here that a day earlier the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had ordered the secretaries for interior and foreign ministries to immediately meet senior journalist and anchorperson Arshad Sharif’s family.

An application seeking a probe into the matter had been filed with the high court, requesting the formation of a commission to investigate the circumstances under which the senior journalist left the country.

However, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah on Tuesday stated that it was pointless "at this stage" to form a judicial commission to investigate the murder of senior journalist Arshad Sharif.