Kenya ordered to pay Ksh.10M to family of slain Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif

High court judge Stella Mutuku ruled on Monday morning that Sharif's murder was unconstitutional and that his rights to life and protection were violated.

Sharif's family, led by his widow Javeria Siddique, sued the government for their kin's killing, arguing that he had the right to be protected and was wrongfully killed.

The state has however asked the court to suspend the ruling for at least 30 days to allow them to file an appeal which the court granted.

Sharif, who had fled Pakistan citing threats to his life, was shot dead by Kenyan police in Nairobi on October 23, 2022.

Kenyan officials said it was a case of mistaken identity and police hunting car thieves opened fire on his vehicle as it drove through a roadblock without stopping.

A two-member fact-finding team set up by the Pakistani government to probe the killing said it found several contradictions in the version given by Kenyan authorities, and believed it was a case of pre-planned murder.

The team travelled to Kenya and conducted a number of interviews, examined and reconstructed the crime scene and examined the deceased's phones and computers.

"Both the members of the (fact-finding team) have a considered understanding that it is a case of planned targeted assassination with transnational characters rather than a case of mistaken identity," said the report, copies of which were submitted to Pakistan's Supreme Court.

"It is more probable that the firing was done, after taking proper aim, at a stationary vehicle," it said.

Kenyan authorities declined to comment on the specifics of the report.

"The investigation into the matter is still ongoing, so there is not much I can tell," said Kenya National Police Service spokesperson Resila Onyango.

CASE OF TREASON

Sharif had fled from Pakistan citing threats to his life after the government registered several treason cases against him.

One of the treason cases stemmed from reporting Sharif did that led to an accusation he had spread a call from an official in a previous government, led by former cricket star Imran Khan, for members of the armed forces to mutiny.

Both Sharif and the official in the previous government denied inciting mutiny.

Former prime minister Khan said Sharif had been murdered for his journalistic work. He and his successor Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, not related to the journalist, had called for a judicial investigation.

The fact-finding team's report also pointed out apparent contradictions in the autopsy reports in Kenya and Pakistan.

The post-mortem report in Pakistan identified 12 injuries on Sharif's body whereas the Kenyan report identified just two injuries pertaining to gunshot wounds.

The team's report also said that doctors believed the injuries may be the result of torture or a struggle, but it could not be established until verified by the doctor who conducted the post-mortem in Kenya.