Inauguration of the Arshad Sharif Human Rights Award

The Geneva Press Club is pleased to invite you to the inauguration of the Arshad Sharif Human Rights Award, organised in collaboration with EuroPak, on Friday 23 October 2026, the fourth anniversary of his death.

Arshad Sharif was one of Pakistan’s most prominent investigative journalists. Forced to leave his country after reporting critically on those in power, he was shot dead by police in Kenya on 23 October 2022. In 2024, a Kenyan High Court ruled his killing “arbitrary and unconstitutional.” Four years on, full accountability for his death has yet to be achieved.

His case is not an isolated one. Journalists, lawyers and political dissenters in Pakistan continue to face severe pressure. Former Prime Minister Imran Khan has been imprisoned since August 2023, in a detention the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has found to have no legal basis. The ceremony’s esteemed speakers from UK, journalists Imran Riaz Khan and Sabir Shakir, now continue their work from outside Pakistan.

The evening will introduce a new international award honouring courage in journalism and human rights, and offer a rare opportunity to hear directly from those who have lived these events.

Speakers: 

• Imran Riaz Khan, Pakistani journalist currently living in exile
• Sabir Shakir, Pakistani journalist currently living in exile

To register to the event please use the following links:

Contact person for EuroPak: Umer, +41 77 461 84 63