Nairobi police say Pakistani journalist killed by mistake

Kenyan police say a senior Pakistani journalist has been shot and killed by officers along a key highway in what they said was a case of “mistaken identity."

A senior Pakistani journalist living in hiding in Kenya was shot and killed by police after the car he was in sped up instead of halting at a roadblock near Nairobi, the police said on Monday. They said it was a case of “mistaken identity" during a search for a similar car involved in a case of child abduction.

Arshad Sharif, 50, had been living in hiding in Kenya after leaving Pakistan in July to avoid arrest over criticizing the South Asian country’s powerful military.

Nairobi police said Sharif was shot in the head and killed on Sunday night after the car he was traveling in with his brother, Khurram Ahmed, drove through a roadblock set up on the Nairobi-Magadi highway to check vehicles along the key route. They were traveling from the town of Magadi to the Kenyan capital.

The two ignored police orders to stop and sped up. “They did not stop and proceeded with the journey,” the police said. Police opened fire and laid chase, during which his car turned over.

Sharif’s wife Javeria Siddique confirmed that her husband was killed in Kenya. Ahmed’s condition was not immediately known.

Sharif left Pakistan in July to avoid arrest following a citizen's complaint against him on allegations of maligning the country's national institutions, a reference to the military. His whereabouts were not known; most of his friends knew only that he had spent time in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, and London.

Nairobi police said the Independent Policing Oversight Authority will take over the case for further investigation.