•Sharif was shot at a roadblock on Nairobi-Magadi highway in Magadi area after his driver breached the barrier set up.
• IPOA’s Chairperson said the authority has started looking into the matter and will recommend prosecution of those found capable.
Image: FACEBOOK/ARSHAD SHARIF
The body of slain Pakistan journalist Arshad Sharif was Tuesday flown from Nairobi to Islamabad where the family said he will be buried.
The Qatar Airways plane carrying the casket departed Nairobi at about 1 am and landed in Doha at about 6 am on Tuesday ahead of the planned connection to Islamabad.
It is scheduled to arrive in Pakistan on Wednesday morning, officials said.
A few Pakistan nationals led by High Commissioner to Kenya Syeda Saqlain were at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to see off the body.
Local media quoted Federal Information Minister Maryam Aurangzeb saying as a result of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s conversation with President William Ruto, the legal affairs were completed quickly and after completing the legal steps, the body was sent to Islamabad.
A postmortem exercise was conducted on the body, which showed Sharif had a head bullet injury and died out of bleeding.
Sharif was shot at a roadblock on Nairobi-Magadi highway in Magadi area after his driver breached the barrier set up.
There are questions as to why the police officers manning the roadblock did not target the driver and instead hit Sharif in the head killing him.
The four-wheel drive Toyota VX car was shot at least nine times by the team of nine General Service Unit officers who were manning the roadblock.
They were on the Kuenia-Kamukuru Road in Magadi near the GSU Training Camp headed for the Kiserian- Magadi Road when the shooting happened.
The award-winning journalist was reportedly vocally opposed to the ongoing political developments in Pakistan. He is said to have been on the run from Pakistan following an ongoing crackdown.
Police headquarters said the Independent Policing Oversight Authority would take over the case.
IPOA said it had dispatched a Rapid Response team to the area following the alleged ‘mistaken identity’ shooting of Sharif. Ann Makori, IPOA’s Chairperson said the authority has started looking into the matter and will recommend the prosecution of those found capable.
“Our Rapid Response team has been dispatched to look into the matter,” said Makori during a press briefing on Monday.
The National Police Service (NPS) spokesman Bruno Shioso said Sharif was in the company of his brother Khurram Ahmed when he was shot.
Shioso said the incident happened after a circulation from Pangani police station of a stolen motor vehicle after which officers trailing the motor vehicle alerted police in Magadi who erected a road barrier.
“Deceased’s motor vehicle came upon the police barrier which they drove through. It is then that they were shot at, fatally injuring the late Arshad Mohammed Shariff,” said Shioso.