The Asian Human Rights Commission wishes to draw your attention to the case of a Pakistani citizen who has been held in inhuman conditions inside a private cell for 34 years. Although the case is known to authorities in the area and a video documentary has been released about the man, no action has been taken to free him.
Brief details of the case are as follows:
Mr Mohammad Moosa Indher currently spends 24 hours in a room measuring 8X9 feet at Indhar Mohalla, Inayat village, opposite the Irrigation Bungalows of Panoo Aqil Tehsil, in the district of Sukkur in Sindh province. He is being held by Mr Noorul Haq and Mr Nisar Ahmed Indher, a relative. He is chained to the wall and because he has no toilet facilities he must urinate and excrete in the same cell. He has been there for about two years.
Before this, according to our information, Moosa was locked in a 6×6 foot room in the Khanqahe Haley Jee seminary in Panoo Aqil, where he has reportedly been since 1975. His captors were the head of the seminary, Mr. Ghulam Ullah, son of Bdula Samad, and his staff. It appears that Moosa was once released for a month in 1981 but then taken back into private captivity.
The story was first broken by newspaper reporters on November 28, 2008, and KTN, a television channel aired a documentary on him soon after.
The reason for his three-decade imprisonment is still unknown, however we do know that the man is unmarried, and that his elder brother Mr Essa Indher has been missing since 1977, and is believed by some villagers to have been murdered. Mohammad Moosa Indhers captors say that he has mental problems. According to a close friend who used to provide him with food, Moosa is a religious man from a sect of Islam. Apparently conflict arose from the tension between the Islamic sect members, suggesting that religious discrimination is the reason for his capture.
After the media reports Mr Sharjeel, a district police officer, visited the cell with other high Sukkur officials. He announced that his administration would take full care of the elderly man, and would rescue him within couple of days. However sources say that Moosa is still there; he is in a bad condition and his legs have been particularly injured by the iron chains. When the AHRC contacted Sharjeel to ask for case details the officer refused to comment. He has since kept his mobile phone off, and has not been available at his office phone numbers. Nearly six months have now passed since the news report and Mr Moosa has not been rescued or provided with redress.
As we wrote in our letter to you, dated 6 April (ref. no.: AHRC-UAC-037-2009) there cannot be any legal justification for condoning the private incarceration of a person by a civilian, related or not. The length and the condition of Mr Moosas detainment, and the age of the victim, make this a particularly extreme and thus particularly urgent case.
The Asian Humans Rights Commission is greatly troubled by the lack of help extended to the man by the police or anyone in authority in over three decades, despite recent promises to do so. We are greatly concerned for the mans mental and physical wellbeing. We urge the court to take Sou Moto action to secure the immediate release of Mohammad Moosa Indher from illegal detention, and to arrange for speedy redress and rehabilitation for the few years the man must have left.
Thank you,
Yours faithfully,
MOON Jeong Ho
Urgent Appeals Program Officer
Asian Human Rights Commission
Encl: Urgent Appeal letter addressed to Chief Justice of Sindh High Court, 6 April, 2008 (ref. no.: AHRC-UAC-037-2009)
