Shan Dahar: A family’s fight for justice

On 1 January 2014, Pakistani journalist Shan Dahar was shot by armed men and taken to a local hospital where he remained unattended until he succumbed to his injuries. To date, none of the perpetrators have been brought to justice.

Zakir Ali – also known as Shan Dahar – was Bureau Chief of Abb Takk Television channel in Larkana district of Sindh province, Pakistan. Shan was shot in the back at 12:30am on 1 January 2014 and taken to Chandka Medical College Hospital (CMCH), where he remained unattended until he succumbed to his injuries in the morning, nine hours later.

The local police, in an investigation that his family believes to be flawed and motivated, declared the death an accident that resulted from celebratory shooting on New Year’s Eve. However, the family believes he was targeted because of his stories on the illicit sale of medicine donated by NGOs in local hospitals. The media community in Pakistan likewise believes that the killing was retribution for his journalistic work. Shan was working on a number of incendiary stories at the time and had received threats prior to the shooting.

In the nine hours that he spent at CMCH, Shan managed to inform his friends and family by telephone that Amir Zehri and Irfan Zehri were the individuals that gunned him down. However, neither man is currently being investigated for the crime of murder; instead they are facing trial in absentia after absconding from judgment.

IFEX member the Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) successfully advocated with the family of Shan Dahar to have the case re-investigated as an intentional killing, based on evidence that refutes the claim of an accidental death and points to a possible cover-up by local officials. PPF is currently working with the family and other stakeholders to ensure the new investigation leads to the identification and prosecution of those responsible for Shan’s death. Impunity in Pakistan is rampant, as evidenced by PPF’s findings that of the 72 cases of killing of media practitioners since 2002, there have been convictions in only three cases.

Key Actors

Amir Zehri and Irfan Zehri (pictured), are the brothers who have been accused of killing Shan Dahar. According to Shan’s sister Fouzia Sultana, they were identified by Shan as his assailants in the final hours before his death, but were not arrested. They are currently facing trial in absentia for charges that presume the death to be an accident. Family members allege that the accused are roaming freely in the city, but the police have made no serious attempts to arrest them.

Khadim Rind, the Deputy Inspector General of Police in Larkana established a committee to investigate the killing that also includes Inspector Murtaza Kaloro, Assistant Superintendent of Police Inspector; Sajid Khokhar, and several Deputy Superintendents of Police.

Babu Iqbal, President of Larkana Press Club and correspondent of ARY News, has been supporting Shan Dahar’s family with legal matters and has lobbied the local administration and police to re-investigate Dahar’s killing.

Qazi Shahid Pervez, Home Secretary who directed the Inspector General of Police Sindh to order a reinvestigation of the case and appoint an independent investigative team. Soon after, the investigation was transferred to a new jurisdiction under Senior Superintendent of Police Dadu, Shabbir Ahmed Sethar.

Pakistan Press Foundation, a local civil society group and IFEX member working closely with the family of Shan Dahar to ensure the new investigation is conducted fairly and transparently and that the perpetrators are brought to justice. PPF awarded Dahar’s family with the PPF Press Freedom Award on 3 May 2014 in support of their efforts to find justice for Shan’s death.

The Media Legal Defense Initiative is a non-profit organisation dedicated to providing legal defense to journalists, bloggers and independent media and has been working directly with the family of Shan Dahar to provide them with local legal representation for Shan’s case.