Irregular rendition: Three secretaries put on notice over Guantanamo detainee

Petitioner maintains his brother-in-law has been detained without charges, right to defence

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday issued notices to top officials of the government over a petition seeking repatriation of a Pakistani prisoner detained in Guantanamo Bay.

Justice Athar Minallah issued notices to interior, defence, and foreign affairs secretaries in response to a petition filed by Mohammad Shafi, who is seeking repatriation of his brother-in-law Muhammad Ahmed Ghulam Rabbani from Guantanamo Bay.

The petitioner has also made General (retd) Pervez Musharraf a respondent. Assisted by the UK-based human rights organisation Foundation For Fundamental Rights (FFR), the petitioner maintained that his brother-in-law was picked up by Pakistani security agencies and was kept first in Pakistan, then in Afghanistan and subsequently at the American prison on the island of Cuba without any charges or right to defend himself.



He contended that General (retd) Pervez Musharraf had admitted in his autobiography that he had handed over 369 Pakistanis to the US out of 689 captured.

He requested the court to order the respondents to make immediate representations as required by law on behalf of the detainee, both to secure due process for him, as well as to ensure his repatriation to Pakistan. After the primary hearing, the court issued notice to respondents and adjourned the case.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 8^th, 2014.