Dear friends,
It is with much regret that the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes to inform you of the death of Pakistan journalist, Mr. Hayat Ullah Khan. In a May 2006 appeal (UA-145-2006) the AHRC asked the Government of Pakistan to produce Mr. Khan in a court of law without further delay. Mr. Khan was disappeared on 5 December 2005 and had not been seen since. It is suspected that Mr. Khan had been handed over to armed forces from the United States serving in Pakistan. Sadly, Mr. Khans dead body was found on June 15.
Since Mr. Khans disappearance many human rights organisations around the world had been campaigning for his release. Mr. Khans family was repeatedly informed by intelligence agencies and government officials that they would receive good news on Mr. Khan on or around June 15. However, on the very day that they believed Mr. Khan would be returned safely to them, his family learned that he had been found but was in fact dead. Mr. Khans body was located outside a village in Mir Ali in the North Waziristan tribal region. His hands had been chained together and he had bullet marks in the back of his body. He was also still wearing the same clothes he had worn on the day that he disappeared.
On that day, 5 December 2005, Mr. Khan had taken photographs indicating US involvement in the missile attack on the house of Egyptian born Al-Qaeda operative Hamza Rabia. Though Pakistani officials claim that Rabia had died from one of his own home-made bombs, Mr. Khans photographs showed shrapnel at the scene from a Hellfire missile which had allegedly been fired by an American plane. Evidently, the photographs contradicted the officials claim.
Mr. Khan worked for national dailies and western wire photo services. He was kidnapped by five armed masked men while traveling with his younger brother to cover a students demonstration on December 5. He is the third tribal journalist who was killed while covering militants activities and the military operation in the tribal areas close to the border of Afghanistan. In February 2005 two journalists had been gunned down by masked men in Wana, South Waziristan.
The military government of Pakistan has been operating in the South Waziristan area since 2002. During this time they have bombarded the area and threatened media persons and media organisations for reporting on military operations. Recently one journalist in Sindh province was shot dead by the guards of a provincial minister and two journalists in the same province were attacked and shot at by men working for a provincial minister of the military government. Since the military take-over in 1999, seven journalists have been killed, two are missing and several have been injured.
The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists and the All Pakistan Newspaper Employees Confederation are today observing a black day in protest against the killing of journalists. The AHRC fully supports this day and strongly condemns the actions of the military government in their treatment of media persons and media organisations in the country.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the relevant authorities listed below voicing your condemnation of the killing of journalist Mr. Hayat Ullah Khan.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear ___________,
PAKISTAN: Missing journalist found dead in Pakistan
I write to voice my condemnation of the killing of journalist, Mr. Hayat Ullah Khan. I am aware that Mr. Khan went missing on 5 December 2005 and was not seen again until his dead body was discovered on 15 June 2006 outside a village in Mir Ali in the North Waziristan tribal region.
It is alleged that Mr. Khan was disappeared after he took photographs of the remains of Al-Qaeda operative Hamza Rabias house, revealing shrapnel from a Hellfire missile allegedly fired by an American plane. Though the officials in Pakistan claimed that Rabias house was destroyed by one of his own home-made weapons, Mr. Khans photographs evidently contradicted this.
I am aware that Pakistani intelligence operatives and government officials assured Mr. Khans family that they would receive good news on or around June 15. However, this was the exact day he was found dead with his hands chained together and bullets wounds to his back. It is alleged that it was the military government in Pakistan who disappeared Mr. Kahn, took him into custody, torture him and then killed him. This allegation is of such a serious nature that the authorities have no choice but to investigate into it and establish if it is true. If that is the case then those responsible for Mr. Khans demise must be charged immediately and brought before a court of law to answer to the allegations against them. If they are found guilty in court, then full legal punishment must be passed against them.
I am aware that on June 19 the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists and the All Pakistan Newspaper Employees Confederation observed a black day in protest against the killing of journalists. I support these two organisations in their fight for justice and ask that the government intervene before any further deaths occur. Finally, I ask that recent actions taken by the military government to suppress the media be stopped and that no further action such as this is taken in the future.
Yours sincerely,
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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
1. General Pervez Musharraf
President
Presidents Secretariat
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 922 1422, 4768/ 920 1893 or 1835
Email: (please see - http://www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk/WTPresidentMessage.aspx)
2. Mr. Muhammad Wasi Zafar
Minister of Law, Justice and Human Rights,
S Block,
Pakistan Secretariat,
Islamabad,
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 920 2628
E-Mail: minister@molaw.gov.pk
3. Mr. Mohamag Ali Durrani
Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting
Government of Pakistan
Islamabad
Pakistan
Email: infominister@infopak.gov.pk
4. Mr.Tariq Azeem
Minister of State for Information and Boradcasting
Government of Pakistan
Islamabad
Pakistan
Email: mos@infopak.gov.pk
5. Mr. Ashfaq Gondal
Principal Information Officer to the President of Pakistan
President Secretariat
Islamabad
Pakistan
Fax: + 92 51 927 008
6. Mr. Ambeyi Ligabo
Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
Attn: J Deriviero
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9177
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION)
Email: jderiviero@ohchr.org / urgent-action@ohchr.org
7. Prof. Philip Alston
Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions
Attn: Lydie Ventre
Room 3-016
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9155
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR EXECUTIONS)
Email: lventre@ohchr.org / urgent-action@ohchr.org
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ahrchk@ahrchk.org)
