ISLAMABAD: Javeria Siddique, the wife of slain journalist Arshad Sharif, has filed a lawsuit against Kenyan police regarding her husband’s killing. Arshad Sharif, a strong supporter of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, was shot dead in Nairobi in October the previous year.
Initially, local Kenyan police stated that Sharif had been killed due to “mistaken identity,” but later reports reconstructed the events surrounding his killing, suggesting that someone in Sharif’s car at the time of the incident fired at paramilitary General Service Unit officers.
Javeria Siddique announced her intention to file a lawsuit last week, and her lawyer has now confirmed that it has been lodged at Kenya’s High Court, coinciding with the one-year anniversary of Sharif’s killing.
Siddique expressed her frustration with the lack of an apology from Kenyan authorities, despite their admission of responsibility for her husband’s death. She had previously written to the Kenyan president and foreign minister but received no apology or acknowledgment of their responsibility.
The Case
Arshad Sharif left Pakistan in August 2022 due to multiple sedition cases filed against him in various cities. He initially stayed in the United Arab Emirates before going to Kenya, where he was murdered. The Pakistani government formed a team to investigate the killing and provided a progress report to the Supreme Court, which had taken suo motu notice of the case.
A First Information Report (FIR) for Sharif’s murder had been registered by Islamabad police, but proceedings in the case were halted last month due to a perceived lack of interest from the prosecution.
Javeria Siddique’s lawsuit seeks justice for her husband’s killing and addresses the circumstances surrounding the incident in Kenya.
