November 4th, 2020
BUREAU REPORT
LAHORE
UN human rights experts have called on the Pakistani authorities to end the secret detention of human rights defender Idris Khattak, who has not been heard from in more than a year.
The UN human rights experts have also written to the Pakistani government about incommunicado detention and the risk of torture and ill-treatment faced by Idris Khattak on August 31, 2020. No reply from the government has been listed in response to the communication by the United Nations Office of the Human Rights Commissioner.
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the enforced disappearance of Mr. Khattak by Pakistan,” the experts said. “The mere acknowledgment that he is in custody does not absolve Pakistan of its human rights obligations. Pakistani authorities must produce him and guarantee him a fair trial,” the UN experts have said in a statement from Geneva on September 4, 2020.
The experts are Mr. Nils Melzer, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances: Mr. Luciano Hazan (Chair-Rapporteur), Mr. Tae-Ung Baik (Vice Chair), Mr. Bernard Duhaime, Ms. Houria Es-Slami, and Mr. Henrikas Mickevičius; Ms. Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Ms. Agnes Callamard, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Mr. Fernand de Varennes RP, Special Rapporteur on minority issues.
The experts are seriously concerned for his life as he has not had contact with the outside world since he was taken into custody by Pakistani Military Intelligence (MI) on 13 November 2019.
“The concealment of Mr. Khattak’s fate and whereabouts to this day constitutes a continued offence of enforced disappearance,” the experts said.
Khattak is a former consultant for Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and has worked on a number of reports on disappearances in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas. He was abducted and disappeared for seven months before the Government acknowledged custody of him. His case is emblematic of the many enforced disappearances occurring in the country.
“We are concerned that Mr. Khattak’s human rights are being violated,” the experts said. He has not been allowed to speak to his lawyer, family and he allegedly has not been given a medical examination by an external independent doctor.
He is reportedly facing charges under the Official Secrets Act and Army Act as a civilian. Use of the Official Secrets Act is yet another means of silencing dissent from human rights defenders including those working on minority issues in Pakistan, the experts said.
“The flagrant abuse of authority and lack of cooperation by the Military Intelligence to produce Mr. Khattak before the Peshawar High Court during the habeas corpus petition is a violation of their obligations under international human rights law,” said the experts.
The High Court dismissed his case, saying it did not have jurisdiction, and the Joint Investigations Tribunal, constituted to probe into cases of enforced disappearances, closed the Khattak case reportedly because he was no longer considered a missing person. The experts are concerned that the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances disposed of the case prematurely without an adequate investigation or recommendation to the respective authorities for criminal responsibility or ordering compensation.
“We urge authorities to conduct an independent and thorough investigation into the institutional and criminal responsibilities for Mr. Khattak’s disappearance and arbitrary detention with a view to end impunity,” they said. “The victim and the family also have a right to redress, rehabilitation and compensation.” The experts will continue to engage with the authorities and closely monitor the situation.
