WUNRN
Urgent Appeal Document is Attached.
URGENT APPEAL - THE OBSERVATORY
PAK
001 / 1107 / OBS 136
House arrests / Arrest warrant
/ Arbitrary detentions /
Judicial proceedings / Harassment
Pakistan
November 5, 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), requests your urgent intervention
in the following situation in Pakistan.
Brief
description of the situation:
The Observatory has been
informed by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) about the arbitrary
house arrest of Ms. Asma Jahangir, HRCP Chairperson, human rights lawyer
and United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom
of religion or belief, as well as the arrest warrant issued against Ms. Hina
Jilani, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary
General for Human Rights Defenders.
According to the information
received, 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 late 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”.
The Observatory was further
informed that 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 the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
situated at Tipu Block, New Garden Town in Lahore and arrested 55 of its members[1][1]. 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.
The Observatory expresses its
deepest concern regarding these arbitrary arrests, as they seem to merely aim at sanctioning the mentioned defenders’ human rights
activities and strongly condemns these serious violations of fundamental rights and
international human rights law.
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”[2][2], and
therefore urges the Pakistani authorities put an end to any kind of harassment
against all human rights defenders in Pakistan.
Actions requested :
Please
write to the authorities of Pakistan urging them to :
i.
Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and
psychological integrity of Ms. Asma Jahangir, Ms. Hina Jilani, Mr. Igbal Haider
and Mr. I.A Rehman as well as of all HRCP members
currently detained or under house arrest;
ii.
Put an end to the house arrest of Ms. Asma Jahangir
and release immediately and unconditionally Mr. Igbal Haider, Mr. I.A Rehman as well as all other HRCP members who are currently detained,
since their detention is arbitrary as it merely aims at sanctioning their human
rights activities;
iii.
Cancel
the warrant of arrest issued against Ms. Hina Jilani as it
seems to merely aim at sanctioning her human rights activities;
iv.
Put an end to all acts of harassment, including at the
judicial level, against all human rights defenders in Pakistan;
v.
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”.
vi.
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
·
Mian Kurshid Mahmud Kasuri, Minister of Foreign
Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Islamabad, PAKISTAN, Tel: +92 51 92 10
335, Fax: +92 51 920 7600
·
Ghulam Safdar, Joint Secretary for Law, Justice and
Human Rights, Islamabad, PAKISTAN, Tel: +92 51 921 1278, Fax: +92 51 920 1631
·
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
· Embassy of Pakistan to the EU in Brussels, 57 avenue Delleur, 1170
Watermael-Boitsfort, Belgium, Fax: + 32 2 675 83 84, Email: parepbrussels@belgacom.be
***
Paris-Geneva,
November 5, 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
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[1][1] 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.
[2][2] See OP 9 of General Assembly resolution A/RES/60/251.