Missing Adiala Jail inmates: Spy agencies’ counsel turns to moral calculus

Says no incriminating evidence – but suspects being held on ‘moral ground’.

ISLAMABAD:

An attorney for the country’s top spy agencies came up with a bizarre explanation in the Supreme Court on Monday: we have no incriminating evidence against seven prisoners who went missing from outside Adiala Jail in 2007 – and that they were held on “moral grounds”.

A three-judge bench of the court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, heard the testimony of Raja Irshad, who was representing the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI).

Eleven men were detained in November 2007. And after spending several years in prison on mere suspicion, the Supreme Court ordered their release in May 2010. However, they disappeared from outside Adiala Jail the day they were set free.

The Supreme Court took up the matter, asking the agencies to present the men. In February 2012, the men, haggard-looking and barely able to stand or talk, appeared before the court. The counsel for the spy agencies claimed that the men were not picked up from outside Adiala Jail – rather they were detained from the war zone.

Taken aback by the Irshad’s explanation, Justice Chaudhry said, “If there is no evidence, then how can these prisoners be held in illegal detention?” He warned that action would be taken against the errant officials if the detentions proved illegal. Justice Chaudhry said everyone is answerable to the court and no institution is above the law. “Lest the sky fall, the law will take its course,” he added.

The deputy attorney general informed the bench that a review board evaluates every case 120 days after a suspect is brought to the detention centre. The court sought records of all the meetings of the review board and adjourned the hearing until today (Tuesday).

Irshad sought to justify the detention but conceded that they could not be put on trial because of a “lack of incriminating evidence,” but added, “We are morally convinced that they were involved in terrorism.”

The chief justice said suspects cannot be detained indefinitely and unlawfully. “Morally they can put anyone behind bars, even me. According to them, all people are guilty,” he added. “They should have been released if they could not be tried under the Army Act. They have been in confinement for more than four years.”

The men, though not from the military, had been facing a court martial under the Army Act on charges of attacking the General Headquarters (GHQ) and the ISI’s Hamza Camp base. Originally, the case included a group of 11 men, but the court was told last year that four of them had died.

“What was their crime and why have they been kept in confinement?” Justice Chaudhry quizzed the counsel.

Judge Sheikh Azmat Saeed expressed dismay that the government has not enacted appropriate legislation to deal with terror cases. “What has the government been doing for the past five years?”

Justice Chaudhry ordered the government and intelligence agencies to report back to him on Tuesday on the fate of the detainees. If the reports were proven inappropriate, then proceedings would be initiated against the concerned people, he added.

Defending the ISI, Irshad said his clients have repeatedly asked the government to enact effective laws to ensure that suspects in high-profile cases are not acquitted on the basis on insufficient evidence.

(Read: Overseeing agencies)

Published in The Express Tribune, January 22^nd, 2013.