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HYDERABAD, March 18: The relatives and friends of deceased prisoner Mehmood Khoso have alleged that he was tortured to death by the authorities of Hyderabad Central Jail.
They appealed to the Sindh governor, corps commander, home secretary and inspector general, prisons, to order the registration of a case against the jail officials.
Speaking at a news conference at the Hyderabad press club here on Monday, Ghulam Rasool Khoso and others said: “It was in the knowledge of all and sundry that Hyderabad Central Jail had been converted into a Nazi concentration camp where inhuman atrocities were being committed against the prisoners by jail superintendent Malik Altaf Awan and deputy superintendent Eijaz Haider.”
They said that Mehmood, Abdullah and Ibrahim, who were brothers, were asked to pay bribe by the jail officials on March 15 when they returned from Umerkot after attending the hearing of their case.
They said that on their refusal, they were severely tortured by Eijaz Haider, jailer Aurangzeb and other jail staff at the instance of Altaf Awan.
They said that Mehmood died on the spot while Ibrahim and Abdullah became unconscious. They feared that Abdullah and Ibrahim also might be killed.
They claimed that Dr Samad Solangi of the civil hospital had given his report that Mehmood had been tortured to death.
They said that they will move Sindh High Court for the registration of an FIR against the jail officials.
They appealed to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and Amnesty International to visit the jail and pressurize the authorities to take action against the jail superintendent.
They demanded that Ibrahim and Abdullah be shifted from the “slaughter house of Hyderabad central jail” to some other prison.
They threatened to stage protest sit-ins if their demands were not accepted.
Adds our correspondent: Sixth Extra Joint Civil Judge Ali Ahmed Jan has so far not submitted his report on the post-mortem of the body of Mehmood Khoso, an under-trial prisoner, who died two days back.
The judge is awaiting the post-mortem report.
The autopsy report is normally delayed by the hospital because the viceras of the deceased are preserved and sent to Karachi for internal examination of organs.
The report of external examination of the body is normally given the same day by the MLO, who conducts the autopsy.
Mr Khoso’s relatives claimed that he was tortured to death by the jail officials and held the superintendent, jail, M. Altaf Malik, the deputy superintendent, Aijaz Hyder, and the jailer, Aurangzeb, responsible for his death.
Two local leaders of the Mohajir Quami Movement, Nadeem Umar and Riaz Qureshi, in a statement have demanded a judicial inquiry into the death of Mahmood Khoso and complaints of torture against prisoners by jail officials.
