NAIROBI: Javeria Siddique, wife of slain journalist Arshad Sharif, on Monday filed a lawsuit against Kenyan police, according to her lawyer.

Arshad Sharif, a supporter of former premier Imran Khan, was shot dead in Nairobi in October last year.

Initial reports on his killing by the Kenyan media quoted local police as saying that Sharif was shot dead by police in a case of “mistaken identity”.

But later reports reconstructed the events surrounding the killing, stating that an occupant in Sharif’s car at the time of his killing was believed to have shot at paramilitary General Service Unit officers.

Javeria Siddique’s plea alleges investigation so far has not been ‘independent’ or ‘effective’

Last week, Sharif’s wife told AFP in Islamabad that she was filing a lawsuit.

On Monday, her lawyer confirmed it had been lodged at Kenya’s High Court, a year to the day since the late-night killing.

“Yes. The case has been filed,” lawyer Ochiel Dudley told AFP 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,” Javeria Siddique said. “The Kenyan police admitted that they killed my husband but never apologised.”

“I have written to the Kenyan president and foreign minister but they were not even kind enough to say sorry,” she added.

The petition alleged that the incident had not been investigated at all or “if there have been any investigations, they have not been prompt, independent, impartial, effective, accountable” nor led to the prosecution of the culprits.

“Petitioners fear that the failure to investigate, arrest or prosecute the police officers who unlawfully shot and killed Arshad Sharif amounts to a criminal cover-up,” it said.

Sharif had left Pakistan in August 2022 after multiple cases of sedition were registered against him in different cities. It was reported that he initially stayed in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after leaving Pakistan and later went to Kenya, where he was murdered.

The government subsequently formed a team that travelled to Kenya to investigate the killing. A progress report of the murder probe was furnished before the Supreme Court — which has taken suo motu notice of the case — in March.

The matter was also addressed in an unprecedented conference in October last year, where the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmed Anjum had joined former Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) DG Lt Gen Babar Iftikhar to speak about the journalist’s killing.

The Islamabad police had registered the FIR against the murder on the orders of the Supreme Court in December 2022.

Siddique had questioned then why the case was registered on the complaint of the police when the slain journalist’s family members were still alive. She had said that the FIR could only be lodged by her mother-in-law (Sharif’s mother).

Last month, an Islamabad district and sessions court stopped proceedings in the case of journalist Arshad Sharif’s killing due to a “lack of interest” from the prosecution. Police in Kenya are often accused by rights groups of using excessive force and carrying out unlawful killings.

Last year, President William Ruto disbanded a feared 20-year-old police unit accused of extrajudicial killings and the government has said it is embarking on reforms of the security sector.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2023