Investigators seek CCTV footage of Arshad Sharif’s Nairobi flat

NAIROBI, KENYA: Investigators looking into the killing of journalist Arshad Sharif have asked brothers Waqar Ahmed and Khurram Ahmed to provide CCTV footage of the apartment in Nairobi where Ashraf stayed and the training site out of Nairobi where the journalist was last seen alive before his tragic killing.

A paper seen by Geo News shows that Pakistan’s investigation team - FIA Director Athar Wahid and Intelligence Bureau (IB) Deputy Director General Omar Shahid Hamid – has called on both brothers to further help the investigation after interviewing them about the killing. The letter sent by Pakistani investigators is now available also with Pakistani diplomats and several Kenyan departments.

The investigators from Pakistan and Kenya have met both brothers and asked for the following essential information:

CCTV footage of the penthouse apartment where Arshad Sharif lived as your guest for two months and 3 days. List of names and contact details of instructors and treaters who were present at your training site, Ammodump, at the time of the killing of Arshad Sharif. Details of which organisations the trainers and instructors belong to. List of names and contact details of all staff employed by you at your training site. List of the individuals who met with Mr Arshad Sharif during his stay at your premises. Name and contact details of the individuals who asked you to sponsor Mr Sharif’s invitation letter. Clarification about the whereabouts of Mr Sharif’s iPad and cell phones which were last known to be in your possession.

After arriving in the Kenyan Capital on Wednesday, Geo News investigation team revealed that slain journalist Arshad Sharif’s visit visa to Kenya was sponsored and he didn’t get the entry visa on arrival.

The letter by the investigators confirms revelation by Geo News which was based on information passed by the immigration officials and senior Pakistani diplomats familiar with the investigation. The sponsor letter to Sharif to visit Kenya was sent by Nairobi-based property developer Waqar Ahmed, brother of Khurram Ahmed who was driving Arshad Sharif on the fateful night of 23rd of October 2022 when Arshad Sharif died in a hail of bullets rained on him by the Kenyan police at a deserted area.

Both Waqar and Khurram have been questioned by Pakistan’s investigation team - FIA director Athar Wahid and Intelligence Bureau (IB) deputy director general Omar Shahid Hamid - to ascertain the facts of the journalist’s murder. “I met Arshad Sharif only once and that too at a dinner,” Waqar Ahmed told the investigation team, adding that he had invited the senior journalist for a meal at his lodge outside Nairobi. “On the incident day, Arshad had a meal with us at our lodge. After the meal, Arshad Sharif left with my brother Khurram in the car and half an hour later there was a report of firing on the vehicle,” he told the team.

The two brothers told the Pakistani investigating officers that the slain journalist was planning to move to Nairobi and for that he extended his visa too. A source here shared it was true that Arshad Sharif initial visa was for one month and then he extended it. He arrived in the Kenyan capital on 20th of August and died on 23rd of October in a shootout in which Khurram Ahmad survived miraculously. The shooting dead of Arshad Sharif by police in Kenya has caused outrage in Pakistan, leaving many wondering how such a thing could have happened.

Lawyer for Waqar and Khurram told Geo News in a statement that their clients were innocent. “The Kenya police issued a statement and regretted the shooting as a case of mistaken identity. That’s all we know for now. The investigations are still ongoing and our Clients are fully cooperating with the investigation,” Daniel Kiragu told this reporter.