PAKISTAN: A young Christian man has been tortured to death by Karachi police and jail officials for not paying bribes in time for Eid

Dear friends, 

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the torture and extrajudicial murder of a young man in Pakistan. The man was reportedly beaten and abused in a number of police stations and Karachi central prison for not paying bribes in the lead up to Eid, and was beaten unconscious in front of his mother. The medico-legal department of the civil hospital in Karachi has confirmed that the man’s death was caused by the injuries he received during the custodial period,and the police have the number of the mobile phone used to solicit the bribes, however no action has yet been taken by the Sindh provincial government. The young man belonged to the minority Christian community and was arrested shortly before Eid, a period in which crimes and bribe requests by police significantly increase. The case demonstrates the pressing need to combat corruption in order to make any headway on human rights protection in the country. 

CASE DETAILS: 

The following information is according to the victim’s lawyer and family, local media sources and the NGO, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. On 22 November 2009 a 31-year-old electrician, Mr. Abid Javed Francis was arrested without charge as he walked to a job, by Station House Officer (SHO) Khatak and Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Abdul Aziz of Ferozabad police station. He was beaten in public during the arrest. 

Francis was held at Ferozabad police station and allegedly tortured for two days while requests for Rs10,000 (US$ 125) in bribes were made from his family. The family resides in a slum settlement and the victim’s mother was unable to raise the money. According to our information this led the police to blackmail the victim by filing a false case of harbouring illegal arms. This was logged through first investigation report (FIR) number 1273/2009 under section 13/D at 00:40 on November 24, two days after his initial arrest. The method and duration of Francis’ arrest and detention and the use of torture are all illegal in Pakistan. 

With no bribe money produced, a second case concerning the theft of a motorbike was filed by ASI Aziz under FIR 1274/2009, section 411, approximately ten minutes after the first FIR was filed. During the remainder of the night further torture is alleged to have taken place. On the morning of 24 November the victim was produced before the magistrate at city court Karachi, where police were granted two days of physical (police) remand regarding the recovery of the motorbike. His face was visibly injured and swollen. 

The victim was handed over to Aziz Bhati Park police station where he was asked to pay further bribes (to prevent his being moved to Anti Car Lifting Cell (ACLC) police station). Here he was charged in FIR 673/2009, under section 381 A, concerning a case of theft. According to our information the victim was then moved to the ACLC at Shrifabad Police station in Liaquatabad town where it is alleged that further torture took place over two days. On 25 November ASI Nizam Kolachi and ASI Fayyaz of ACLC reportedly increased the bribe, requesting Rs50,000 (US$ 625) from the victim’s mother, Ms. Venice (known also as Zeenat). In order to further pressurise the family into raising the money, it is alleged that ASI Fayyaz beat the victim around the head in front of her and the victim’s mother-in-law, and continued to strike the victim’s head against a wall until he fell unconscious. 

On 26 November Francis was produced in magistrate’s court and handed over to Karachi central prison. We are told that the victim was visibly injured, bearing torture marks on his face and hands, yet no inquiry was made by the magistrate as he is obligated to do by law and according to the constitution. Francis was placed under judicial remand. 

During the Eid holidays (a Muslim religious festival), Ms Venice reports that she was not allowed to see her son for three days, and that on 3 December she was charged Rs2,000 by prison staff to do so. Her account states that the victim’s face was swollen and his left eye was damaged. She alleges that more money (Rs10,000) was requested by 5 December for moving the victim to a hospital, and that prison staff told her that a share of that money would go to the superintendent of Karachi prison. We are told that she managed to produce half the demanded amount by December 7 but was informed that by then her son was too ill to be seen. 

After protesting strongly Ms. Venice was finally taken to see him, and reports finding him lying on a stretcher in his underwear in an outside area, despite the cold December weather; he was on a glucose drip, unable to open his eyes. Due to her protests he was moved to the civil hospital in Karachi. Doctors took a CT scan of the victim’s head and moved him to the neurology ward, where he was pronounced dead on 10 December. 

A post mortem recorded five counts of severe injury to the victim’s head and the upper half of his body, and that the cause of death was a hematoma on the left side of the head. It reveals that the injuries were inflicted within the prior two to three weeks (during which he was custody). It has been reported that police officials of the ACLC were using mobile phone number: 92 300 2736196 to demand bribes during the Eid holidays (while they were away from office phones). 

Mr. Sohail Bhatti, the lawyer of the victim’s family, has filed a petition before the session and district judge in District East Karachi, demanding the prosecution of eight police officials from the three police stations and two officials of Karachi central prison, for murder. The lawyer’s petition observes that bribe taking is endemic in police and law enforcement agencies, and police frequently resort to torture for that reason. 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: 

It is not uncommon in Pakistan for detainees to experience physical or mental torture in police custody. (See recent cases: UAC-051-2009, UAC-120-2009 and UAC-172-2009) By compiling records from local human rights organisations, the AHRC has estimated that more than 1,300 people report being tortured in Pakistan each year, yet this is a small percentage of the actual number; hundreds of victims do not or cannot report cases due to a lack of victim and witness protection, organised intimidation and social taboos. Although article 14.2 of the constitution states ‘no person shall be subjected to torture for the purpose of extracting evidence’, it has not been specifically criminalised in the penal code, allowing most perpetrators to go unpunished. Please see more about torture legislation in Pakistan on our anti-torture campaign website: notorture.ahrchk.net 

Torture is also institutionally common in the military. As reported by the AHRC (STM-158-2008, STM-012-2009) in 2008 there were at least 52 military-run torture cells throughout the country, under the supervision of the army. Various testimonies about these centres have since been given in court by people who emerged after being disappeared for months. Since the army justifies such measures under terms of national security, the police and other law enforcers have started to consider torture procedurally justified for attaining confessional statements. This allows false cases to be filed at will for the profit of police. Disturbingly, many cases have also indicated that lower court judges rarely question such charges despite evidence of torture, whether out of fear or for financial gain. The AHRC strongly believes that a strong stand against corruption is a basic step to rebuilding a weak rule of law and protecting human rights. 

SUGGESTED ACTION: 

Please write to, email or call the authorities listed below urging an immediate, impartial inquiry into the custodial murder of Mr. Abid Javed Francis. Please also ask them to provide protection and compensation to the family of the victim. 

The AHRC has written a separate letter to UN special rapporteurs on torture, extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary Executions and on the independence of judges and lawyers, as well as the chairperson of the UN working group on arbitrary detention, calling for their intervention into this case. 

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