Categories: World

Pakistani journalist’s widow files wrongful death suit against elite Kenyan policing unit

close Video

Fox News Flash top headlines for October 18

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what’s clicking on Foxnews.com.

The widow of a prominent Pakistani journalist who was killed a year ago in Kenya filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against an elite Kenyan police unit she accuses of the wrongful death of her husband.

Javeria Siddique said she filed the lawsuit in Nairobi to get justice for her husband Arshad Sharif, a well-known journalist in his home country Pakistan. Sharif was shot dead on October 23, 2022 by officers from Kenya’s General Service Unit, according to Pakistani authorities. The officers involved in the incident later claimed it was a case of mistaken identity.

In court papers seen by The Associated Press, Siddique wants Kenya’s Attorney General, the National Police Service and the Director of Public Prosecutions “to punish and prosecute the police officers who killed Arshad Sharif.”

ARRESTS MADE IN CONNECTION TO MOSQUE ATTACK TARGETING ANTI-INDIA MILITANT IN PAKISTAN

The lawsuit also wants the court to direct the Attorney General “to issue a public apology, including an acknowledgement of the facts, and acceptance of responsibility to the family of Arshad Sharif within seven days of this court’s order.”

“I am suing the GSU because they committed the crime openly, then admitted that it was a case of mistaken identity. But for me it was a targeted assassination because he was living in hiding in Kenya after receiving threats in Pakistan,” Siddique said in a phone interview with the AP.

“The Kenyan government never issued any apology. They never contacted us, they never showed any kind of kindness toward us. It is really cruel for a government to be so insensitive,” Siddique added.

Sharif, 50, was a vocal critic of Pakistan’s former army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa. He fled Pakistan last July to avoid arrest for criticizing the country’s powerful military and later arrived in Kenya.

A large Pakistani flag is draped over the side of a building, Lahore, Pakistan, August 12, 2022. (ARIF ALI/AFP via Getty Images)

Police in Nairobi said the journalist was shot and killed when he did not stop driving at a roadblock on the outskirts of the capital. The family, rights groups and Pakistani investigators countered that the killing was an assassination planned in Pakistan.

In Islamabad, police charged two Kenyan-based Pakistani businessmen, who had hosted Sharif in the East African country, with involvement in his killing.

Sharif’s mother wanted the Supreme Court of Pakistan to ensure the questioning of Bajwa and other former military officials she accused of involvement in conspiring to assassinate her son.

News of the killing shook Pakistan and thousands attended Sharif’s funeral as the nation mourned last year. Sharif’s friends, family and colleagues have demanded justice for him on social media and held rallies across Pakistan to draw attention to the case.

PAKISTAN CLAIMS 2 CIVILIANS SHOT DEAD BY TALIBAN AT AFGHAN BORDER

The investigators’ 592-page report, issued last year, concluded that the Kenyan police issued contradictory statements following the killing of Sharif.

Pakistan’s military has denied any involvement in the killing of Sharif, and said it would support investigators examining who was behind it.

According to Kenyan police’s website, the General Service Unit is tasked with providing security to the president and at strategic points, controlling civil disturbance and counter-terrorism.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Kenya’s National Police Service and the Independent Policing Oversight Authority, a body responsible for holding the police to account, did not respond to AP’s requests to comment on the lawsuit.

Share

Recent Posts

Dominican attorney general grills witness in missing American case at his resort in person

close Video Ted Williams says investigators ‘cannot rule anything out’ in search for missing college…

1 hour ago

El Salvador takes in hundreds of Venezuelan gang members from US, even as judge moves to block deportations

The president of El Salvador announced his country has accepted hundreds of Venezuelan gang members…

2 hours ago

DOGE’s plans to offload government buildings supported by former GSA official

EXCLUSIVE: Former General Services Administration (GSA) head Emily Murphy, who served all of President Donald…

2 hours ago

Trump watches strike on Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen in new White House pics as large-scale op continues

The White House released photos of President Donald Trump watching strikes on Iran-backed Houthis in…

2 hours ago

Karoline Leavitt says she won’t attend White House Correspondents’ Association dinner

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she is skipping the White House Correspondents' Association…

2 hours ago

‘Alien’ encounter: NASA astronaut plays joke as SpaceX team arrives

Even astronauts have a sense of humor, as shown during NASA's Crew-10 docking on the…

3 hours ago