Nairobi, Kenya
CNN
—
When a distinguished Pakistani investigative journalist was once shot lifeless by means of Kenyan police on a mud street at the outskirts of Nairobi, the questions started swirling right away.
How did he come to be there? Why did the police shoot at his car? And did his outspoken reporting – steadily essential of the army established order that wields really extensive energy in Pakistan – have anything else to do together with his dying?
One month since Arshad Sharif was once killed, Kenyan and Pakistani government have now not concluded their experiences nor have there been any arrests within the case.
Conflicting accounts introduced by means of the Kenyan police and Pakistani government have now not equipped additional readability. First, police mentioned it was once a case of improper identification. Later, they mentioned pictures had been fired from the journalist’s automobile. Pakistan’s inner minister has forged doubt at the police experiences, claiming previous this month that it was once a “targeted killing,” including that extra proof was once had to “to confirm all this.”
Pakistani media have aired more than a few lurid theories concerning the night time Sharif died. Some experiences advised the journalist was once tortured for hours sooner than he was once shot lifeless, alleging damaged arms, damaged ribs, lacking fingernails, and different torture marks.
However, autopsy experiences from separate autopsies performed in Kenya and Pakistan, bought by means of CNN, each concluded that Sharif died from a couple of accidents after gunshots to the pinnacle and chest. Neither of the experiences documented proof of torture.
Pakistani media have alleged his fingernails had been got rid of by means of torture, nevertheless it’s same old in Kenya to extract fingernails in an post-mortem for DNA, Dr. Ahmed Kalebi, an unbiased pathologist in Nairobi who has reviewed each experiences advised CNN.
The conflicting tales have sown doubt and frustration for Sharif’s circle of relatives, who’re skeptical they’ll get solutions to the thriller of his dying.
“I have no faith in the Pakistani government,” his mom, Riffat Ara Alvi advised CNN in a video interview.
She mentioned she wrote a letter to Pakistan’s Chief Justice this month imploring the Supreme Court to arrange a judicial fee “to determine the real motive and identify criminals behind this heinous crime.”
“It’s not possible to get justice in Pakistan and in Kenya. I know that. But I request all the international journalistic organizations and United Nations to investigate this killing,” his widow, Javeria Siddique advised CNN.
CNN has contacted Pakistan’s prime fee in Nairobi for remark at the case.
In his house nation, Sharif was once a critic of the Pakistani army and an best friend of former top minister Imran Khan, who was once ousted in April after a no self assurance vote in parliament. Sharif’s vocal opposition to the present management earned him many enemies and his friends and family say left the journalist so terrified for his lifestyles, he fled the rustic.
He additionally confronted sedition fees for allegedly criticizing state establishments and “abetting mutiny” inside the army. Former Prime Minister Khan described Sharif, 49, as “one of the best investigative journalists in Pakistan,” and advised CNN on November 7 that Sharif had uncovered a plot towards him, with out giving additional main points.
“This guy was exposing this whole plot against me. He was hounded out of Pakistan,” Khan claimed.
Khan was once himself shot at a political rally previous this month and his birthday party referred to as the assault an assassination try by means of established order figures – which has been vehemently denied by means of the federal government and safety officers.
Sharif left Pakistan a month after writing to Pakistan’s Supreme Court and to the president, in step with letters bought by means of CNN, notifying them of threats towards his and different newshounds’ lives. “Journalists in Pakistan are subjected to charges of sedition and terrorism to stifle dissent and criticism against the powerful elements of state. It appears that a reign of terror has been unleashed against the media persons who have independent opinions,” he wrote.
He had to begin with long gone to Dubai however was once pressured to escape once more because of “harassment by Pakistani officials,” the affiliate mentioned.
Pakistani investigators traveled to Dubai the week of November 14 to probe Sharif’s keep there, in step with resources aware of the investigation. The crew wondered Sharif’s contacts and hosts there, in addition to the landlord of ARY tv, the station Sharif labored for and their investigation is ongoing, the resources mentioned.
With restricted nation choices for acquiring a visa after he was once expelled from Dubai, Sharif traveled to Kenya, one of the most few nations he was once ready to get a snappy e-visa together with his Pakistani passport, in step with his shut affiliate.
Sharif landed in Kenya round August 20, in step with his spouse and an in depth affiliate, the place he quietly lived his lifestyles most commonly in hiding, for 2 months – at all times in worry of being attacked, his family and friends mentioned.
“He had never disclosed his location to all of us- his family, his mother, to me. He was saying that I’m hiding somewhere because I’m not feeling safe and they are going to assassinate me, so I’m not going to tell you where I am right now,” his spouse Siddique recounted.
Siddique, 35, advised CNN he despatched her a textual content message to let her know he was once in “far, far away jungles.” However, it wasn’t till information of his killing emerged that Sharif’s mom and spouse got here to be informed he were in Kenya.
“He was so kind-hearted, and generous, and he was a brilliant photographer. We did photography together,” Siddique mentioned.
When Sharif was once in Nairobi, he would hardly ever go away the condo he was once staying in, out of worry of being identified, his shut affiliate advised CNN.
However, right through his two-month keep, he traveled to the outskirts of Nairobi to a taking pictures vary and hotel referred to as Ammodump greater than as soon as, in step with folks with wisdom of the topic.
On the day he died, Sharif had frolicked at a bonfire and fish fry taking place close to the camp, in step with a workforce member who didn’t wish to be named.
After dinner, Sharif and the brother of the landlord of Ammodump left in combination, the workforce member mentioned.
Sharif and Khurram Ahmed left Ammodump round 8:30 p.m. native time, a detective concerned within the case advised CNN.
Police arrived on the crime scene, some 25 kilometers (15 miles) clear of the web site of the taking pictures the place Ahmad in spite of everything stopped, after 10 p.m. native time, mentioned the detective who declined to be named as he was once now not licensed to talk to the media.
That similar night, police had been searching for a reported stolen car, a Mercedes-Benz supply van, in step with an preliminary police record. Sharif and Ahmad allegedly drove previous a makeshift roadblock in a Toyota Land Cruiser which the police mistook for the lacking car and opened hearth, killing the journalist, the police alleged.
Four law enforcement officials had been manning the roadblock, together with officials from Kenya’s elite police unit, the detective mentioned. All had been status at the motive force’s aspect of the auto when the taking pictures came about. The motive force was once now not injured within the gunfire, he added.
In a follow-up record, police mentioned the primary pictures got here from the auto – hitting a police officer within the hand within the procedure – and police returned hearth, taking pictures the auto a minimum of 9 occasions.
Kenya’s Independent Policing Oversight Authority, IPOA, has been tasked with investigating police behavior.
“We are not investigating the prior events of this incident, or the prior movements and patterns of movements of this Pakistani journalist,” Elema Halake, CEO of IPOA, mentioned. “Our mandate specifies that we only investigate the circumstances of the shooting.”
Sharif’s dying stays a hot-button factor and continues to spark outrage on-line. Tens of hundreds of mourners flooded the streets of Islamabad to wait Sharif’s funeral within the town’s biggest mosque in past due October, chanting “Arshad, from your blood, revolution will come.”
Several theories about his dying had been circulated on social media, together with by means of warring parties of the Pakistani govt and the Pakistani army who accuse them of plotting his dying.
Separate investigations by means of Kenyan and Pakistani government are ongoing and in an extraordinary transfer, Pakistan’s intelligence leader addressed the media about Sharif’s killing ultimate month, at the day of his funeral.
“I have come for my agency whose officers are working day and night around the globe, I cannot remain silent when they are targeted,” Chief Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmed Anjum mentioned in a press convention.
He referred to as Sharif a “martyr” who had “no threat to his life in Pakistan.”
Pakistan’s Supreme Court said the receipt of Sharif’s letter to CNN by means of a textual content message and mentioned it was once “being dealt with by following a due legal process.”
While Pakistani President Arif Alvi mentioned he had written a letter to the top minister in July in regards to the letter he won from Sharif, “for necessary action as per law,” in a media briefing on November 16, in step with a press free up from his administrative center.
As the investigation gathers tempo on other continents, his widow Siddique is left to select up the items and are available to phrases together with his devastating loss.
“I miss his smile, his voice, his presence,” she advised CNN. “He was a great man, he was not only a great journalist, but he was a very loving person,” she recollects. “I lost a gem.”
