Here’s the detail of high-profile murder cases in Kenya
For the past few years, East African country Kenya has become the centre of international media’s attention due to the mysterious hike in high-profile murder cases and Pakistan’s senior journalist Arshad Sharif’s murder is another addition to these cases.
According to Kenyan police, senior journalist and anchorperson Arshad Sharif was shot dead by the police in a ‘mistaken identity’ case while travelling to Nairobi from the country’s Magadi town.
Arshad Sharif was shot in the head by Kenyan police near Nairobi after his driver allegedly breached a road block.
The Kenyan police said that, the manned roadblock had received information to intercept a car similar to the Sharif’s car, following a carjacking incident in Nairobi in which a child was allegedly taken hostage.
Here is the detail of high-profile murders in Kenya
Indian filmmakers:
Recently, the Kenya’s Special Service Unit (SSU) was accused of killing two Indians, Zulfiqar Ahmed Khan (former Chief Operating Officer of Balaji Telefilms) and Muhammad Zaid Sami Kidwai.
The two Indian arrived in Kenya in April to be part of President William Ruto’s digital campaign. On July 25, the both went missing along with a taxi driver.
Julie Ward:
Among these high-profile cases was the murder case of England’s wildlife photographer Julie Ward, who was murdered in Kenya in September 1988.
British national Julie Ward went missing from her camp in Kenya’s Masai Mara Game Reserve, a week later Julie’s decomposed body was found in the Makari area of Kenya. Ward arrived in Kenya on 7-month long trip from UK.
John Anthony Kaiser:
In August 2000, Roman Catholic priest Father John Anthony Kaiser was shot in the back of the head skull and his body was found by a butcher under the trees at Morendat Junction on the Nakuru-Naivasha Road in west Kenya.
According to the report, John Anthony Kaiser was killed as he was about to present documents to the Akiwumi Commission.
He was due to appear at the International Criminal Court in The Hague in the Netherlands within the next three weeks to testify against the government.
Murders of foreigners including a Dutch businessman
Dutch businessman Herman Romain Horst was allegedly kidnapped and murdered in his apartment in June 2021.
Harman moved to Kenya with his girlfriend 6 years before he was killed and owned several nightclubs in Mombasa and Kilifi cities of Kenya.
The bodies of a Swiss couple wrapped in blankets were found on a road in Mombasa in 2017, while in 2014, Russian and German tourists were murdered in two separate incidents.
High-Profile arrest by Kenyan Police
Abdullah Ocalan, the founder of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and wanted by Turkey, was arrested in Kenya in 1999.
Abdullah Ocalan was living in the Nairobi embassy for the past several years, where Turkish officials arrested him in fleeing attempt.
He was later transferred to Turkey and sentenced to death, which was later commuted to life imprisonment.
