NAIROBI, Kenya — An elite Kenyan police unit went on trial Tuesday on fees of wrongful dying within the killing of an outspoken Pakistani journalist in Nairobi a year in the past. The case was once collectively filed via the journalist’s widow and two Kenyan newshounds’ unions.
Arshad Sharif was once killed Oct. 23, 2022, when the automobile he was once in with every other Pakistani guy speeded up and drove via a roadblock checkpoint outdoor the Kenyan capital and police opened fireplace. Nairobi police on the time expressed feel sorry about over the capturing, pronouncing it was once a case of “mistaken identity” all through a seek for the same automotive all in favour of a kid abduction case.
The 50-year-old journalist had fled Pakistan previous that year to steer clear of arrest at house on fees of maligning Pakistan’s nationwide establishments — a word used for critics of the tough army, which has dominated Pakistan for part of its 75-year historical past. He stayed in brief in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom prior to arriving in Kenya.
A group of Pakistani investigators later mentioned Sharif’s killing was once a “planned assassination.” His widow, Javeria Siddique, filed the case towards the Kenyan police unit, referred to as the General Service Unit or GSU, that was once concerned within the capturing.
Kenyan police claimed Sharif didn’t forestall at a roadblock on the outskirts of Nairobi however his circle of relatives and Pakistani investigators disagreed, pronouncing Shariff’s killing was once deliberate in Pakistan.
“I am suing the GSU because they committed the crime openly,” Siddique said earlier in a phone interview with The Associated Press. “For me, it was a targeted assassination because he was living in hiding in Kenya after receiving threats in Pakistan.”
The case is being heard on the Kajiado High Court on the outskirts of Nairobi and along side Siddique, the Kenya Union of Journalists and the Kenya Correspondents were indexed as joint petitioners.
The plaintiffs’ submission to court docket accuses Kenyan government of “failing to prosecute officers involved in the wrongful death of Arshad” and calls for “a public apology to the family of Sharif.”
“It has taken us some time to go to court because we thought investigations will be carried out, and the officer who pulled the trigger prosecuted,” a statement from the union said. “Nothing so far has happened, so we are justified to go to court.”
Ochiel Dudley, the lawyer representing Shariff’s widow, said his legal team is “aiding the circle of relatives to pursue justice in Kenya.”
In Islamabad, police have charged two Kenyan-based Pakistani businessmen who had hosted Sharif within the East African nation with involvement in his killing.
The case has drawn global complaint from rights teams.
“Arshad Sharif was politically persecuted in Pakistan and sought safety in Kenya, only to meet death,” mentioned Muthoki Mumo, the Committee to Protect Journalists’ sub-Saharan Africa consultant.
“A year later, Kenyan authorities have dismally failed in their responsibility to credibly and swiftly investigate the killing,” she added. “His family and colleagues deserve justice, and a more credible accounting of the circumstances surrounding his death than the dubious story provided by the police.”
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