Arshad Mohammed Sharif, a Pakistani journalist was gunned down by Kenyan police on Sunday night in what is claimed to have been a case of mistaken identity.
According to a statement by the police spokesperson Bruno Shioso. Sharif was killed after his driver and brother, identified as Khurram Ahmed, refused to stop their car at a roadblock in Magadi, Kajiado county.
The police from Pangani police station were pursuing a stolen vehicle and therefore they alerted their counterparts in Magadi to erect a barrier on the road.
“The Deceased’s motor vehicle came upon the police barrier which they drove through. It was then that they were shot at fatally injuring the late Arshad Mohammed Sharif,” Shioso stated.
Photo|Courtesy
The 49-year-old is believed to have been in the country for an explosive corruption documentary he was working on titled Behind Closed Doors, which featured veteran Kenyan journalist Allan Namu. Namu however said that he did not work with the deceased in person.
International media houses however reveal that Sharif had sought refuge in Kenya after landing in trouble with his country. According to Al Jazeera, the journalist ran away from his country in August to evade arrest after he was “slapped with multiple cases including sedition charges” following his interview with an aide of former prime minister Imran Khan.
The aide, Shahbaz Gill, reportedly made comments that were deemed offensive to the Pakistani military.
The journalist first fled to Dubai saying that he was being harassed by state institutions and his life was being threatened. He later moved to Kenya.
For the past 8 years, he was working for Channel ARY which was highly affected by the controversial interview. The channel was barred from broadcasting over Sharif’s “false, hateful and seditious” content. Towards the end of August, the channel announced that it had parted ways with Sharif who was one of the top prime time news anchors.
RELATED STORY: Rishi Sunak: Interesting Details Of “Newly Elected” UK Prime Minister With Kenyans Roots
