On October 23, 2023, Javeria Siddique, the wife of slain journalist and ARY News anchor Arshad Sharif, filed a lawsuit against Kenyan authorities, citing their repeated failure to adequately investigate those responsible for the killing of her husband. In the lawsuit, Siddique named Kenya’s Attorney General, the National Police Service, and the Director of Public Prosecutions as respondents, seeking an apology, transparency, and their acceptance of responsibility for his death.
The proceedings were launched exactly twelve months after the killing of Arshad outside Nairobi, Kenya, after members of the General Service Unit (GSU), an armed branch of Kenya’s law enforcement, opened fire on his vehicle. Arshad first left Pakistan for the United Arab Emirates in August 2022, before leaving for Kenya. The journalist was known as an ardent supporter of former Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and fled Pakistan following the registration of multiple sedition cases against him and other ARY News journalists and staff.
Pakistani authorities first formed an investigative team on October 26, with a report submitted to the Supreme Court in March 2023. On the directions of the Supreme Court, Islamabad police registered a First Information Report (FIR) in December. Critics have questioned the launch of the FIR, arguing the report should instead be registered by the family of the deceased. In September, the proceedings were stopped due to a ‘lack of interest’ from prosecutors, seen most prominently through their failure to produce key witnesses.
Kenyan authorities have claimed the incident was due to a ‘mistaken identity, taking responsibility for the journalist’s murder in 2022. However, subsequent investigations by the Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA), an internal conduct investigative body, have failed to make their reports accessible for over nine months. The police officers responsible for Arshad’s murder are reportedly still performing their normal duties.
IFJ affiliates have fought against impunity in this case, with the KUJ working with Siddique and the Kenya Correspondents Association through the legal battle, and the PFUJ launching protests and campaigns calling for increased and improved investigative efforts.
The KUJ said: "We are supporting the legal action as parties in the lawsuit because the police officers who pulled the trigger are known and so far nothing has happened. We are hoping that the court will compel the government to take action."
PFUJ President GM Jamali and Secretary General Rana Azeem said: “The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists has expressed its concerns over the non-arrest of the killers of the famous anchor Arshad Sharif despite the fact that it has been a year since his martyrdom and has demanded the government to carry out the investigation in the Arshad Sharif murder case to its logical conclusion and arrest the killers.”
The IFJ said, “The family of slain anchor person Arshad Sharif deserve to know the circumstances of his murder. The fact that proceedings have failed to progress after a year is a gross miscarriage of justice. The IFJ calls on both Pakistani and Kenyan authorities to ensure that their investigations are conducted with transparency and efficiency and that those responsible are not allowed to escape with impunity.”