August 24, 2024
By Xari Jalil
LAHORE
The death of an MQM-A worker in Karachi, under judicial custody, has ignited protests from party supporters worldwide. They have alleged serious negligence on behalf of the jail administration, and have even gone as far as to suggest foul play. Protests have been happening since the past two weeks, with the most recent one held in London on Saturday, August 24.
Naeem Akhtar, 50, died on August 12, 2024, at the Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK). While the medical report gives the cause of death as ‘cardiac arrest’, according to his widow, Akhtar was already suffering from a mysterious and terrible condition that had rendered him barely able to speak.
“Ever since Naeem was arrested and sent to jail, he had been suffering from various allergies; of course, life in prison is no child’s play,” Iram Hanif, revealed to Voicepk. “But this strange skin condition had also developed since some time. It was like a rash all over his body, and he was in severe discomfort because of it. We tried all we could for proper medical attention, but the jail authorities did not provide him with treatment.”
Sure enough, videos of Naeem Akhtar at the time of his death show dark red lesions all over his face and neck. Iram says that he was still bleeding a little through the death shroud.
“It is a case of serious negligence by jail authorities,” says Advocate Adeel Arif, who has been handling the original criminal cases against Naeem Akhtar, and trying to get him out of prison on bail. “One may have been accused of a crime, that does not mean he or she is guilty. In any case it is the responsibility of the authority under whose custody the accused is, to ensure that their medical needs are met.”
Akhtar was picked up by Rangers in March 2019 from his home, says Arif. “He was made to sign a confession under duress, after severe torture, that he was directly involved in a few cases of terrorism, and in the killing of a political rival.”
Ultimately, Naeem was handed over to the police, and several charges were levelled against him, and seven others. The charges fall under Sections 21, 34, 111, 112, 113, 114, 302, and 324 of the Pakistan Penal Code, as well as 7-ATA (Anti-Terrorism Act). The accused were shifted as under trial prisoners to Karachi Central Prison, but the case has hardly budged.
“When my husband was taken by the Rangers, we submitted a petition in the Sindh High Court, but to this date, there has been no hearing,” says Iram. “On the other hand, the cases against him have been addressed in court, but due to delaying tactics, there has been zero development in these five years.”
Advocate Adeel Arif seconds this. “If the lawyer was there, the prosecutor would not be; other times, the custody would not be brought. Slowly, my client, Naeem, began to fall sick while in prison.”
Arif says that Naeem had a metal rod in one of his legs and he was experiencing pain and discomfort. “He was shifted to Jinnah Hospital (JPMC) after we appealed to the court. But some tablets is all he received in the name of treatment, and nothing else. Since that time, the rash began to develop and spread all over his body.”
Naeem was then taken to CHK for treatment of the worsening skin infection, but despite court orders, not admitted. The condition continued to deteriorate as a result.
“Earlier we were trying to ensure our client received medical treatment, and try to get him out of prison on basis of bail; now we have to make a case demanding there be investigation into his death,” he says.
The lawyer has begun work collecting evidence of negligence by the Jail Superintendent.
Meanwhile, Naeem’s widow says she was denied a post mortem of her husband by her in-laws. “They (extended family) kept saying he was poisoned and that having a post mortem was disrespectful of the dead,” she says. “I had no say in the matter. Had an autopsy been done, we may have known of why and how he died, and what was the disease he was suffering from.”
Iram is shocked at how speedily the skin condition had spread. “We kept saying we want to get him tested for his condition, and find out what is wrong with him, but they (jail authorities) did not help us.” Naeem has left behind two minor daughters.
Arif says if need be, they may have to exhume the body for a thorough analysis. The next hearing for the case would have been August 27. “Let’s see what the court says regarding this custodial death,” says Arif.
According to a report by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) as of 2022, many of Pakistan’s 91 jails and prisons were more than 100 percent over capacity. Severe overcrowding has compounded existing health deficiencies in prisons, leaving inmates vulnerable to communicable diseases and unable to access medicine and treatment for even basic health needs.
The report states that substandard health care intersects with range of other rights violations against prisoners, including torture and mistreatment, and pointed to a ‘broken criminal justice system’. Corruption among prison officials and guards and impunity for abusive conduct contribute to serious human rights abuses in prisons and jails, including inadequate and poor-quality food, unsanitary living conditions, and lack of access to medicines and treatment, said the report.
One of the main recommendations that the report gives is for Pakistan to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and install a mechanism to carry out unannounced inspections at all detention facilities.
Medical care is the responsibility of a medical officer from the provincial health department in every prison, but many of these posts lie vacant. The number of designated posts for medical officers for all prisons in Pakistan was 193, but as of 2020, 105 of these posts were vacant.
In 2014 report by the nongovernmental Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), based on inspection of 12 prisons of different types across the four provinces, found that:
The jail hospitals and dispensaries left much to be desired. Of the 12 jails visited by HRCP teams, none had sufficient amount or variety of medication. The dispensaries were critically under-staff and ill-equipped with as few as 3 beds for a prison population of 300. The in-house doctors put the number of patients visiting each day in central prisons at 100 but the supply of medication was severely lacking. Prisoners complained of long waiting lists and inferior quality of medication.
‘NOT THE FIRST ONE’
Ever since news of Naeem Akhtar’s death broke out, overseas party workers, and supporters in London, US and Canada, have been holding demonstrations and protests outside the Pakistani High Commission and consulates. The protestors claim this is not the first custodial death of a party worker.
Senior party member and convener of the Central Coordination (Rabita) Committee in London, Mustafa Azizabadi said that Naeem Akhtar’s death was just another addition to the pattern of disappearances, torture, and deaths of party members over the years. Azizabadi said that Naeem had to endure torture and fake cases after he was offered to join a rival party and he refused had had several fake cases slapped on him.
“And then when he fell sick in prison, he was not admitted to the hospital, rather he was sent back to jail, and because of this endless torture he could not survive any longer,” said the party leader. “So while the country was celebrating independence day, Naeem Akhtar’s family and friends were in mourning.”
A letter by overseas MQM supporters is pushing for human rights organizations in Pakistan and outside to recognize not just this custodial death but several others. They claim ongoing custodial murders of MQM workers has been happening in Central Jail, Karachi since 2014.
‘Thousands of MQM workers have been illegally accused in false, fabricated and politically motivated cases in different prisons of the province Sindh,’ says the letter. ‘After unheralded, illegal arrests, months of brutal torture, these innocent men were handed over to jail custody. There, all these political prisoners were treated like animals, ferociously beaten up by law enforcement agencies, and no medical treatment.’ The letter claims that these prisoners suffer for years from various diseases but there is little help from court to provide them with justice, or ensure that their basic rights are given.
Law enforcement agencies inside jail do not allow them to contact doctors or allow them to get quality medical treatment, claimed the letter.
Meanwhile the Jail Superintendent Abdul Karim Abbasi spoke to Voicepk and rubbished the claims that he staff had done anything intentionally. “This is a routine claim made by family,” he said, but did not comment on why the court orders were not followed. “He was already suffering from a cardiac issue and when he worsened we took him to the hospital, where he died.”
Data provided by the MQM shows at least 10 reported custodial deaths over the past decade in Karachi. Various accounts and news reports have shown how political workers – not just of the MQM-A, which has been maligned since 2014 – but other rival parties too whose activists have been routinely detained and tortured under custody. One such case was that of Aftab Ahmed, who had died in Rangers custody in 2016 and the Director General (DG) Rangers Major General Bilal Akbar even accepted that the worker had been tortured by Rangers in custody. His statement came after videos began circulating on social media with visible signs of severe torture on the body of the deceased.
“It was shocking how my husband who was a perfectly healthy individual just faded away while in prison,” says Iram. “My heart goes out to all the other inmates who may be suffering from various illnesses and are also at risk of death. This system must be changed where a prisoner – especially one is not even convicted – find medical treatment inaccessible.”
“What is the message being given to his family and other such families by the state? Will they ever trust the government again, because for them he has been tortured to death only because of his political beliefs,” says Hassan Butt, a member of the Rabita Committee. “Several of our people have been killed in custody in the past few years…will those who have killed them ever be held accountable?”