Pakistan: Concern over Kenyan court ruling in Arshad Sharif killing

Kenya's Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal seeking prosecution of the police officers responsible for the killing of Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif in 2022. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), condemn the continuing impunity for Sharif's murder, leaving his family without accountability nearly four years after his death.

Pakistani news anchor Arshad Sharif was shot dead in Kenya on October 23, 2022, months after fleeing Pakistan to avoid arrest on sedition charges. Credit: Aamir Qureshi / AFP

The Kenyan Supreme Court dismissed a final appeal brought by one of Sharif's widows, Javeria Siddique, together with the Kenya Union of Journalists and the Kenya Correspondents Association on July 3, asking the court to compel prosecution of the officers involved, order a public apology from the state, direct the release of investigation records, and increase the KES 10 million (approx. USD 77,000) compensation awarded to the family. The five-judge bench rejected all requests, ruling that prosecution decisions fall exclusively within the constitutional mandate of Kenya's Director of Public Prosecutions and cannot be directed by the courts.

The court did uphold earlier findings by the High Court and Court of Appeal that Sharif's constitutional right to life was violated by the shooting but declined to characterise the killing as 'torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment'. The judges described the shooting as a reckless act that breached a right protected under both Pakistan's Constitution and international law.

Arshad Sharif left Pakistan in August 2022 after facing threats linked to his work and had been living in self-imposed exile in Kenya. He was shot dead by police on October 23, 2022, at a checkpoint near Tinga Market on Magadi Road, Kajiado County, approximately an hour's drive from Nairobi. Kenyan police initially described the shooting as a case of mistaken identity, saying officers had been searching for a vehicle linked to a reported carjacking. The explanation was met with widespread scepticism in Pakistan and calls for an independent investigation.

In the weeks following the killing, Pakistan's Supreme Court took up the matter and directed authorities to register a case, resulting in a First Information Report (FIR) filed at Islamabad's Ramna Police Station in December 2022 under sections 302 (murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code. That case was later transferred to Pakistan's Federal Constitutional Court following constitutional reforms, which in February 2026 ruled that it no longer had jurisdiction to continue the proceedings.

The PFUJ said: "A state that cannot protect a journalist in exile, and cannot hold those who killed him to account, fails its own Constitution and international law. The killing of a journalist is an attack on press freedom everywhere. Pakistan's journalists stand in full solidarity with Arshad's wife Javeria Siddique and with all journalists who are forced to work under threats."

The IFJ said:"Kenya's Supreme Court has now confirmed, at the highest level, that the killing of Arshad Sharif was unlawful. But a finding of unlawfulness without prosecution or accountability is not justice; it is impunity. The IFJ urges the Kenyan authorities to ensure the officers responsible are finally brought to justice."