Adiyala missing prisoners: ISI denies torturing man to death in custody
Petitioner requests registration of FIR against agency officials.
RAWALPINDI:
The Inter-Services Intelligence agency has denied torturing a man to death in illegal custody and said he died due to a chronic disease on August 13 at Peshawar’s Lady Reading Hospital.
In written comments filed before the Rawalpindi bench of Lahore High Court in response to a petition filed by Muhammad Bilal, brother of deceased Muhammad Amir, the ISI has maintained that the 25-year-old died of acute renal failure.
Amir was among 11 men who went missing after they were released from Rawalpindi’s Adiyala Jail last June.
Their relatives have alleged in their petition that the men were taken away from prison by the ISI after an anti-terrorism court acquitted them in four terrorism cases.
But the ISI maintain that the men were taken into custody from Fata after they were escorted from Adiyala Jail by terrorists impersonating as ISI officials. A private counsel hired by the ISI also denied that the man was in illegal custody.
ISI’s counsel informed the court that Amir was taken to the hospital for the second time in August and died the day after he was admitted. He said medical reports had confirmed that he had died a natural death. His body was handed over to relatives and he was buried in Rawalpindi.
The petitioner has requested the registration of a FIR against ISI officials in whose custody Amir died, considering the fact that Amir’s body bore marks of torture. He stated that doctors at the LRH had refused to conduct an autopsy. ISI’s counsel argued that since Amir died in Peshawar, the LHC did not have territorial jurisdiction and the petitioner would have to approach the Peshawar High Court.
In response to their petition in the Supreme Court, Bilal said the counsel had submitted that the 11 men were detained by agencies after they were arrested from Fata’s operative areas and will be tried under military laws.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 28th, 2011.
The Inter-Services Intelligence agency has denied torturing a man to death in illegal custody and said he died due to a chronic disease on August 13 at Peshawar’s Lady Reading Hospital.
In written comments filed before the Rawalpindi bench of Lahore High Court in response to a petition filed by Muhammad Bilal, brother of deceased Muhammad Amir, the ISI has maintained that the 25-year-old died of acute renal failure.
Amir was among 11 men who went missing after they were released from Rawalpindi’s Adiyala Jail last June.
Their relatives have alleged in their petition that the men were taken away from prison by the ISI after an anti-terrorism court acquitted them in four terrorism cases.
But the ISI maintain that the men were taken into custody from Fata after they were escorted from Adiyala Jail by terrorists impersonating as ISI officials. A private counsel hired by the ISI also denied that the man was in illegal custody.
ISI’s counsel informed the court that Amir was taken to the hospital for the second time in August and died the day after he was admitted. He said medical reports had confirmed that he had died a natural death. His body was handed over to relatives and he was buried in Rawalpindi.
The petitioner has requested the registration of a FIR against ISI officials in whose custody Amir died, considering the fact that Amir’s body bore marks of torture. He stated that doctors at the LRH had refused to conduct an autopsy. ISI’s counsel argued that since Amir died in Peshawar, the LHC did not have territorial jurisdiction and the petitioner would have to approach the Peshawar High Court.
In response to their petition in the Supreme Court, Bilal said the counsel had submitted that the 11 men were detained by agencies after they were arrested from Fata’s operative areas and will be tried under military laws.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 28th, 2011.