A team formed by the Pakistani government to investigate the killing of a well-known Pakistani journalist in Nairobi said it discovered several contradictions in Kenyan authorities’ version of events and believes it was a case of premeditated murder.
Arshad Sharif, a TV journalist who had fled Pakistan citing threats to his life, was killed in Nairobi in October.
According to Kenyan officials, it was a case of mistaken identity, and police on the lookout for car thieves opened fire on his vehicle as it drove through a roadblock without stopping.
A two-member Pakistani fact-finding team that traveled to Kenya and conducted numerous interviews, examined and reconstructed the crime scene, and examined the deceased’s phones and computers concluded in a 600-page report that Sharif’s murder was pre-planned.
“Both (fact-finding team) members 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 likely that the firing was done at a stationary vehicle after taking proper aim,” it said.
Kenyan authorities declined to comment on the report’s specifics.
“The investigation is still ongoing, so there isn’t much I can say,” said Resila Onyango, a Kenya National Police Service spokesperson.
The investigation is being conducted by a multi-agency team, she said, adding that the team will notify authorities when the investigation is complete.
Anne Makori, the chairperson of Kenya’s police watchdog Independent Police Oversight Authority, also told Reuters that investigations were still ongoing.
Before the report was released, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah stated that Sharif’s body had bruises and torture marks, implying a targeted killing.
The fact-finding team singled out one wound on Sharif’s back, saying it appeared to have been inflicted from close range.
The report stated that there was no corresponding bullet penetration mark on Sharif’s seat when the alleged shooting occurred, calling it a “ballistic impossibility.”
Ref: Reuters
