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The Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) Thursday claimed that journalist Arshad Sharif was killed in a “well-planned” murder conspiracy.
Kenyan police shot and killed Sharif on October 24. Initial reports in Kenyan media said that Sharif was killed by police in a “mistaken identity” incident.
A passenger in Sharif’s car at the time of his death, however, was thought to have fired at paramilitary General Service Unit (GSU) officers, according to later claims from the Kenyan media.
It should be noted that the slain journalist autopsy conducted by the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), said that the journalist had sustained multiple antemortem injuries. The term “antemortem injuries” is used for injuries that occur before death.
Martin Mavenjina of the Kenya Human Rights Commission claimed in an exclusive interview with local news channel that the murder investigation into Sharif shows all the signs of being “an inside job.”
The chief human rights organization in Kenya’s Mavenjina, a lawyer at the High Court of Kenya, told the outlet that Sharif’s “murder was clearly planned and executed” and “it simply proves that he was surveyed for a good amount of time.
“How did the security services know he was in that area at that time is the question.” He added.
According to the official, the Kenyan police utilized the defense of mistaken identity, but there is no supporting proof for this claim, making their stance untenable.
“The Kenya police are guilty as charged. Their excuse of mistaken identity doesn’t hold water because when you file a complaint to the police you give a clear description of the vehicle. In this case, the vehicle in which Sharif was traveling was a V8 Land cruiser. These are the vehicles used by cabinet members, parliamentarians, and VIPs,” he said.
The Kenyan lawyer claimed that Sharif’s shooters were trained for a long period of time. “Ordinarily it is very difficult to get a headshot on a very specific target or an individual in a moving vehicle. Even at a close range, it is very difficult but if you look at circumstances in which Sharif was shot at two places, this was well-planned.”
He added that the roadblocks were placed for a purpose, elaborating that when there are roadblocks in Kenya, people are told their IDs will be checked but no such thing happened in this case.
