FIA hands over post-mortem report to Arshad Sharif’s family, mentions torture

LONDON/NAIROBI: A post-mortem report, handed over to the family of journalist Arshad Sharif and to the Kenyan authorities, mentions that there were torture signs on journalist Arshad Sharif’s body at the time of post-mortem in Pakistan, it has been reliably learnt.

It can be confirmed that Arshad Sharif’s post-mortem report has now been handed over to Arshad Sharif’s mother in Islamabad and also shared with Kenyan authorities including Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA), Inspector General of Police (IGP-Kenya) and Director Public Prosecution Kenya.

Family sources have confirmed that Federal Investigation Agency’s Senior Director Athar Waheed met Arshad Sharif’s mother Riffat Ara Alvi in Islamabad and handed over the post-mortem report to her. Athar Waheed and Omar Shahid Hamid are two senior investigators who visited Kenya for a week to investigate the killing of Arshad Sharif.

A copy of the same post-mortem report has been received in Kenya through Pakistan’s official diplomatic channels. This report mentions that there were torture signs on Arshad Sharif’s body. Reports of torture surfaced when anchor Kamran Shahid published pictures of the torture and then a PIMS doctor told Shahzeb Khanzada on Geo News that doctors had noted signs of torture. There are also denials of torture including from the Kenya govt as well as many in Pakistan.

Kenya govt sources have confirmed to Geo News that it has received the post-mortem report.

When contacted to confirm, a source in FIA said that “it was right of Arshad Sharif’s mother to know the truth and the journalist’s family has every legal right to have access to it. Athar Waheed from FIA met the family more than once and updated the family about the progress so far in the case and handed over the post-mortem report to the family”.

The Kenya govt source said the fact that Pakistan has handed over post-mortem report to Kenya authorities means that the local authorities must answer questions about reports of torture.

Separately, Director General Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Mohsin Hassan Butt told the evidence gathered by Pakistan so far suggests clearly that journalist Arshad Sharif was killed in a well-organised planned assassination in Kenya and that the Kenyan police didn’t produce before two Pakistani investigators one of the shooters involved in firing bullets on the murdered journalist.

Speaking to Geo News in an interview, the top FIA officials said it looked certain that the senior journalist was victim of a murder plot and this is based on the evidence Pakistan has gathered so far. “We believe that the Kenya police was involved in the targeted killing of Arshad Sharif,” the senior FIA officers said.

The FIA DG confirmed that the investigation officials from Pakistan – Athar Waheed and Omar Shahid Hamid - wanted to question four firearms shooters of Kenyan police about the incident but the Kenyan police produced only three.

Arshad Sharif was killed in Kenyan capital Nairobi on October 23 when he was returning from the AmmoDump shooting site towards the capital of Kenya. He was being driven by Khurram Ahmad.