Kenya court rules police killing of anchor Arshad Sharif unlawful
Court orders to pay US $ 78000 to slain Pakistani journalist Sharif ‘s family
Nairobi: Kenyan High Court has ruled the murder of Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif “unconstitutional” and “un-proportionate” and ordered the law enforcement agencies to pay 10 million Kenyan shillings (approx. $78,000) to the family of the slain reporter, who was shot dead by the police in Oct 2022.
The judgement came in response to a petition by Javeria Siddique, widow of the journalist, who was pursuing the murder case in the High Court of Kenya in Kajiado.
In a judgement authored by high court judge S.N. Mutuku, the court ruled that the ruthless killing of the journalist was “arbitrary, un-proportionate, unlawful and unconstitutional”.
The judgement stated that “facts show that on October 23, 2022, Arshad Sharif, a Pakistani national described as an investigative journalist on self-imposed exile in Kenya, was travelling as a passenger…in Kajiado County when he was fatally shot by police officers. The police have since explained that the shooting was a result of mistaken identity as the police were trailing a stolen motor vehicle (Mercedes Benz Sprinter Van)…when they shot the deceased”.
The petitioners, Javeria Siddique and Kenyan journalist bodies, accused the attorney general, prosecution, inspector general of the National Police Service, Independent Policing Oversight Authority and National Police Service Commission of a delay in the conclusion of the investigation. The judge observed that Ms Siddique and the family of the deceased are entitled to compensation. He noted that though she never stated the amount the family of the deceased was seeking in damages, however, it was up to the court to arrive at an appropriate figure in damages.
“In arriving at that figure, I am alive to the fact that a lost life cannot be compensated in monetary terms nor is the pain and suffering the family must have gone through,” he observed. “Bearing all the circumstances of this case in mind, it is my view that a global award of Kshs 10,000,000 is an appropriate award for compensation,” the court ruled.
The judgement held that “the respondents, jointly and severally, by their actions and or omissions while performing their respective functions as shown above, violated the rights of the petitioners”.
The court issued the declaration that “the use of lethal force for law enforcement purposes is an extreme measure that should be resorted to only when strictly necessary to protect life or prevent serious injury from an imminent threat; that the intentional taking of life by police officers is permissible only if it is strictly necessary to protect life from an imminent threat and that the use of lethal force against Arshad Sharif by shooting him on the head was arbitrary, un-proportionate, unlawful and unconstitutional”.
The court also declared that the police officers violated Arshad Sharif’s right to life under Article 26 of the Constitution, right to equal benefits and protection of the law under Article 27 of the Constitution, right to dignity under Article 28, and right to security of the person under Article 29.
In a comment on the judgement, Javeria Siddique said it was a moment of reflection that the journalist was served justice in Kenya, but not the country of his birth. Even the Kenyan high court has admitted that the journalist was killed in a targeted attack and the police violated his constitutional rights, but the alleged planners of the murder were still at large in Pakistan and the case had been pending in the Supreme Court for almost a year, she claimed.
Source: Reports
