ISLAMABAD: The grisly murder of Arshad Sharif, the top investigative journalist who was living in self-exile after receiving threats in Pakistan, in Kenya was premeditated, suggested Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), contradicting the previous claims made by the African nation’s police.
Martin Mavenjina, a KHRC member, said Sharif — who was shot dead on the evening of 23 October on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi — had been murdered as part of an elaborate plan, without elaborating further.
“The position of the Kenyan police on the death of Arshad Sharif is also weak,” he believed. “It is also clear from the investigation that armed men who had fired shots at Arshad Sharif were trained people.”
The suggestion comes less than two weeks after the interior minister said evidence suggests the journalist was the victim of a targeted killing, rather than an accidental shooting, though he said he still needed more information on the incident.
Rana Sanaullah Khan told journalists: “Arshad Sharif’s death is not a case of mistaken identity — I can say, and, on the evidence we have so far, this prima facie is a targeted killing.
“We still need to obtain more [evidence] to confirm all this … and we have asked the Kenyan government for more data.”
A spokesperson for Kenyan police, Bruno Shioso, declined to respond to Khan at the time.
A police report a day after the shooting said police officers hunting car thieves opened fire on the vehicle that Sharif was travelling in as it allegedly drove through their roadblock without stopping.
— With Reuters
