The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is pushing Kenyan authorities to initiate criminal proceedings against police officers implicated in the deadly shooting of Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif four years ago.

Sharif, 49, a former anchor at Pakistan’s ARY News, was shot dead in Kenya on October 23, 2022, by a Kenyan police officer at a roadblock near Magadi, Kajiado County, in an incident initially described by police as a case of mistaken identity involving a stolen vehicle.

Four years later, the killing continues to raise questions about accountability and the circumstances surrounding his death after questions emerged about the vehicle’s registration plates and why officers opened fire on the passenger seat where Sharif was sitting.

The journalist had fled Pakistan in August 2022 while facing multiple police cases linked to his work and comments made during a television interview involving Shahbaz Gill, an aide to former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

After initially relocating to Dubai, he travelled to Kenya, where he continued publishing reports on alleged corruption among Pakistan’s political and ruling elites through his YouTube channel, CPJ recalled.

His death triggered investigations in both Kenya and Pakistan, with a Pakistani government fact-finding team later describing contradictions in the initial Kenyan police account and stating that the possible involvement of individuals in Kenya, Dubai and Pakistan could not be ruled out.

“The team also noted that a Pakistan post-mortem report had documented numerous injuries on Sharif’s body, including four missing fingernails, hand wounds, and a broken rib, but that the investigation had found “no concrete evidence” to establish that Sharif was tortured before his death,” CPJ adds.

In December 2022, the Pakistan government formed a new joint investigation team to probe the killing following an order by the country’s Supreme Court.

In February 2023, Pakistan state officials told the court that Kenyan authorities had denied the team access to evidence and the crime scene.

In July 2024, Kenya’s High Court at Kajiado ruled that Sharif’s killing violated his constitutional right to life and that authorities had failed in their obligations to investigate the death effectively.

The court awarded Sh10 million in damages and ordered authorities to conclude investigations and take appropriate action against any officers found culpable.

The decision was subsequently challenged at the Court of Appeal, which in July 2025 upheld the finding that Sharif’s right to life had been violated but ruled that there was insufficient evidence to establish that he had been tortured before his death.

The court also absolved the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) of liability.

In July this year, the Supreme Court dismissed a further appeal by Sharif’s widow, Javeria Siddique, and two press freedom organisations, largely upholding the Court of Appeal’s decision.

The court said there was insufficient evidence to establish torture and declined to compel the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to charge officers, citing the constitutional independence of the prosecutorial office.

Siddique is now seeking an independent United Nations-led probe into what she described as her husband’s “targeted killing”.

CPJ notes that the case has become a significant test of accountability for police killings and the protection of journalists, with Sharif’s family and press freedom groups seeking justice over his death.

The case remains a reminder of the unresolved questions surrounding the killing of a journalist who had sought refuge in Kenya.