Pakistan Says Death of Journalist in Kenya Was 'A Target Killing'

Voice of America reports that Pakistan's interior minister said on November 8, 2022 that the evidence suggested that a prominent Pakistani journalist was the victim of a targeted killing in Kenya. Rana Sanaullah told journalists: "Arshad Sharif's death is not a case of mistaken identity - I can say, and on the evidence we have so far, this prima facie is a target killing. We still need to obtain more [evidence] to confirm all this ... and we have asked the Kenyan government for more data."

Kenyan police spokesman Bruno Shioso declined to respond to the minister's comments on the death of TV journalist Arshad Sharif, was shot dead in Nairobi on October 24, 2022. At the time, police said they were looking for a similar car at a roadblock, when they opened fire on the car in which Sharif was travelling. 

Sharif was in Kenya to start filming a documentary. It is also alleged that he failed to stop at the roadblock. Sharif was shot in the head and shoulder.

In a statement, Amnesty International called for an investigation and said Sharif's death is among over one hundred deaths by Kenyan police each year.