Pakistanis in Bagram: Court adjourns hearing, again

Petitioner says seven citizens detained without charge at Bagram since 2003.

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court on Tuesday adjourned till October 4 the hearing of a writ petition seeking the release and repatriation of seven Pakistani citizens who had been jailed at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.

No one appeared on behalf of the federal government for Tuesday’s hearing. The petition was filed almost a year ago by Sultana Noon, a member of Reprieve, a UK-based charity that campaigns for prisoners’ rights.

According to the petitioner, Awwal Khan, Hamidullah Khan, Abdul Haleem Saifullah, Fazal Karim, Amal Khan, Iftikhar Ahmad and Younas Rehmatullah were abducted from Pakistan and taken to Bagram, where they have been kept without charge or trial since 2003. The petitioner says all seven Pakistani citizens are being held without access to lawyers and without having been informed of the evidence against them. “Some have been abused. One prisoner was merely 16 years of age and was seized two years ago at the age of 14. Another was not permitted to speak to his family for six years, and was believed to be in a grievous physical and psychological condition,” she added.

The petitioner had also filed a civil miscellaneous application seeking the court’s permission to place on record the affidavits of the relatives of the alleged detainees.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 28^th, 2011.