PESHAWAR: Court notice for centre, NWFP govt: Illegal detention case
Bureau Report
PESHAWAR, Oct 9: The Peshawar High Court on Monday issued notices to the federal and provincial governments over a habeas corpus petition challenging the fresh detention of a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, Abdur Rahim Muslim Dost, by law-enforcement agencies.
A two-judge bench comprising Justice Fazlur Rehman Khan and Justice Dost Mohammad Khan issued the notices to the federal government through the secretary defence and the NWFP government through the advocate general.
The petition was filed by Sayed Mohammad, brother of the detainee, stating that Muslim Dost had been picked up by the officials of Criminals Investigation Department (CID) and an intelligence agency on September 29 from the Academy Town here.
Both Muslim Dost and his brother Badrzamaan Badar were arrested by an intelligence agency and handed over to the US a few years ago.
They were shifted to the Guantanamo Detention Facility by the US authorities where they were kept for a few years before being released.
A few months ago, the detainee and his brother co-authored a book “Da Guantanamo Mate Zolanae” (The Broken Shackles of Guantanamo). In that book they had criticised the role of Pakistani intelligence agencies in the ongoing war on terror and how severely they were tortured during custody by Pakistani and US officials.
The vice chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Kamran Arif, appeared for the petitioner and contended that till date the detainee had not been produced before any court which was illegal and unconstitutional.
The bench inquired from him why the detainee had written a book after he was released from the Guantanamo detention facility.
Mr Arif stated that writing a book was his fundamental right and there should be freedom of expression. He added that in the said book the two brothers had highlighted what had happened to them after they were arrested by an intelligence agency and handed over to the US authorities.
The respondents in the petition are the Federation of Pakistan through the secretary, Defence Division, and the State through the advocate general and the NWFP Inspector General of Police.
The petitioner has prayed the court to direct the respondents for the production of the detainee before the court and to declare his detention without lawful authority and of no legal effect.
The petitioner has also sought interim relief and requested the court to direct the respondents not to remove the detainee from the territorial jurisdiction of the high court.
The petitioner stated that he was the elder brother of Muslim Dost, who is an Afghan writer and poet.
He stated that during the Afghan jihad the detainee had edited several magazines published from Peshawar by an Afghan religious organisation. He added that the detainee had authored 37 books.
