Release of Ms. Asma Jahangir / Ongoing repression against civil society

November 16, 2007

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), has received new information and requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Pakistan.

New information:

The Observatory has been informed by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) about the release of Ms. Asma Jahangir, who was under house arrest since November 3, 2007. Yet, the repression goes on against the civil society, in particular lawyers and judges.

According to the information received, on November 16, 2007, at 2.30 am, policemen came to Ms. Jahangir’s house to inform her that her house arrest was lifted. The Observatory has no information so far as to the legal aspects of this liberation.

The Observatory welcomes the release of Ms. Jahangir and wishes to thank all the persons, organisations, and institutions that intervened in her favour.

However, the Observatory remains deeply concerned about the ongoing arbitrary detentions and forced disappearances of hundreds of human rights defenders (see background information), as they seem to merely aim at sanctioning the mentioned defenders’ human rights activities and strongly condemns these serious violations of international human rights law.

The Observatory also recalls that the order of detention implying a 90 days house arrest remains in place against Ms. Hina Jilani, Vice President of HRCP and Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General for Human Rights Defenders.

The Observatory further recalls that, as member of the Human Rights Council, Pakistan is committed to “uphold the highest standards of promotion and protection of human rights”[1], and therefore urges the Pakistani authorities put an end to any kind of harassment against all human rights defenders in Pakistan.

Background information:

In a context where the President Musharraf has imposed a state of emergency in Pakistan, suspended the constitution, dismissed the Chief Justice and arrested leading lawyers, Ms. Asma Jahangir was put under house arrest on November 3, 2007, under a 90 days preventive detention order (SO (IS-I)3 – 24 / 200), issued by the Home Department of the Government of Punjab and reportedly to prevent her making “inflammatory speeches”.

In addition, a house arrest warrant for a period of 90 days has been issued against Ms. Hina Jilani, who is expected to be detained by the police when she returns from overseas.

On November 4, 2007, the police raided the office of HRCP situated at Tipu Block, New Garden Town in Lahore and arrested 55 of its members[2], who were at the time gathering at a joint action committee to discuss the situation after the imposition of the state of emergency. Charged with holding “illegal assembly” and interfering with public officers under the Criminal Procedure Code, they were taken into preventive detention under Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance and remanded to the Kot Lakhpat Jail Lahore. Messrs. Syed Igbal Haider and I. A. Rehman, respectively HRCP Secretary General and Executive Director, were also among those arrested and were then placed under house arrest.

On November 5, 2007, Messrs. Igbal Haider and I. A. Rehman, along with the other HRCP members who had been arrested on the day before, appeared before a judge and were sent to the Kot Lakhpat Jail Lahore till the next hearing, on November 6, 2007.

On November 6, 2007, the 55 members of the HRCP office in Lahore who had been arrested on November 4 were released on bail at 7.30 pm by the order of Home Secretary. Yet, they are still facing charges under the Maintenance of the Public Order Ordinance and sections 146, 147 and 148 of the Penal Code.

Furthermore, it has been reported that hundreds of lawyers and judges of superior courts are currently under arrest. Many of them have been subjected to ill-treatment and/or are detained in unknown locations, while many of those whose locations are known are denied access to their lawyers and their families. Among them, Mr. Muneer A Malik, former President of the Supreme Court Bar Association and leader of the lawyers’ movement, currently detained at the Attack Fort under the custody of the military intelligence ; Mr. Aitzaz Ahsan, President of the Supreme Court Bar, and currently kept in Adiayala jail in solitary confinement, Mr. Tariq Mahmood, former President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, first detained in the Adiala jail and who was reportedly shifted to an unknown place; and Mr. Ali Ahmed Kurd, former Vice Chair of the Pakistan Bar Council, in the custody of military intelligence and being kept at an undisclosed place.

On November 13, 2007. Mr. Afrasiab Khattak, former Chairperson of HRCP, was arrested, as well as some prominent lawyers in Karachi. On the same day in Lahore, many released earlier have been rearrested.

Actions requested:

Please write to the authorities of Pakistan urging them to :

1. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Muneer A Malik, Mr. Aitzaz Ahsan, Mr. Tariq Mahmood, Mr. Ali Ahmed Kurd, Mr. Afraisab Khattak, Ms. Hina Jilani, should she return to Pakistan, all HRCP members as well as of lawyers and magistrates, arbitrarily detained or under house arrest;
2. Take prompt action in order to locate Mr. Tariq Mahmood and Mr. Ali Ahmed Kurd, make public their whereabouts, and ensure their immediate release;
3. Release immediately and unconditionally Mr. Muneer A Malik, Mr. Aitzaz Ahsan, Mr. Tarik Mahmood, Mr. Ali Ahmed Kurd and Mr. Afrasiab Khattak, as well as all other defenders who are currently detained, since their detention is arbitrary as it merely aims at sanctioning their human rights activities;
4. Cancel the warrant of arrest issued against Ms. Hina Jilani as it seems to merely aim at sanctioning her human rights activities;
5. Conduct an immediate, independent and impartial investigation into the above-mentioned allegations of torture in order to identify those responsible, bring them to justice and sentence them according to the law;
6. Put an end to all acts of harassment, including at the judicial level, against all human rights defenders in Pakistan;
7. Conform with the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, especially its article 1, which states that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels” and article 6, which states that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others: to know, seek, obtain, receive and hold information about all human rights and fundamental freedoms (...), freely to publish, impart or disseminate to others views, information and knowledge on all human rights and fundamental freedoms and to study, discuss, form and hold opinions on the observance (...) of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and, through these and other appropriate means, to draw public attention to those matters”.
8. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rights standards and international instruments ratified by Pakistan.

Addresses:

• General Pervez Musharraf, President, Pakistan Secretariat, Islamabad, PAKISTAN, Fax: +92 51 922 4768/ 920 1893 or 1835
• Hon. Mr. Ishrat-ul-Ibad Khan, Governor of Sindh Province, Governor House, Karachi, PAKISTAN, Tel: +92 21 9201201-3, Fax: +92 21 9205043, E-mail: governor@governorsindh.gov.pk
• Hon. Mr. Arbab Ghulam Raheem, Chief Minister Sindh Province, 3rd Floor, New Sindh Secretariat, Building No. 1, Karachi, Sindh Province, PAKISTAN
• Mr. Asad Jehangir, Provincial Police Officer, Sindh Police, Central Police Office, Karachi, PAKISTAN, Telephone: +92 21 9212626-7, Fax: +92 21 9212051
• Mr. Niaz Siddiqui, Regional Police Officer, Sukkur Region, Airport Road, Sukkur, PAKISTAN, Tel: +92 71 30547, 30248, Fax: +92 71 30223/31824
• Syed Sultan Shah, Joint Secretary for Law, Justice and Human Rights, Islamabad, PAKISTAN, Tel: +92 51 920 3464, Fax: +92 51 9203119
• Ambassador Masood Khan, Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations in Geneva, Rue de Moillebeau 56, Case postale 434, 1211 Geneva 19, Switzerland, E-mail: mission.pakistan@ties.itu.int, Fax: +41 22 734 80 85

***

Paris-Geneva, November 16, 2007

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

The Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need. The Observatory was the winner of the 1998 Human Rights Prize of the French Republic.

To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org
Tel and fax FIDH + 33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / +33 1 43 55 18 80
Tel and fax OMCT + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22 809 49 29

[1] See OP 9 of General Assembly resolution A/RES/60/251.

[2] These 55 human rights activists (31 male and 24 female) included Ms. Shahtaj Qazalbash, Mr. Mehboob Khan, Mr. Nadeem Anthony, Ms. Saleema Hashmi, Ms. Rubina Saigol, Ms. Samina Rehman, Brig. Rao Abid Hameed, Mr. Faisal Akhtar, Mr. Waseem Majeed Malik, Mr. Irfan Barket, Dr. Naseem Ali, Dr. Khurram Iftikhar, Dr. Yousaf Yaseen, Mr. Irshad Choudhry, Imran Qureshi, Shams Mahmood, Zaffar ul Hassan, Khalid Mehmood, Bilal Hassan Minto, Muhammad Bashir, Ali Cheema, Shahid Hafeez, Syed Mozam Ali Shah, Mansoor Ali Shah, Shahzeb Masood, Javed Amin, Suleman Akram, Muhammad Bilal Sabir, Shahid Amin, Khawaja Amjad Hussain, Mahmood Ahmed, Rahim ul Haq, Ashtar Ausaf Ali, Alia Ali, Samia Ali, Azhra Irshad, Jona Anderyas, Ayra Anderyas, Zeba, Neelam Hussain, Gulnar, Sonobar, Sadaf Chughtai, Nasreen Shah, Shaista Parvaiz Malik, Iram Sharif, Amina Sharif, Taina Sabah ud Din, Tamkant Karim, Lala Raukh, Huma Shah, Nasreen Shah, Samia Ameen Khawaja.