Ali Dayan Hasan HRW Statement to SSS Commission
Transcript of Ali Dayan Hasan HRW Statement to SSS Commission
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Statement by Ali Dayan Hasan, Human Rights Watch,
To Syed Saleem Shahzad Inquiry Commission
9 August 2011
I. Human Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch is a nongovernmental organization that
monitors human rights in more than 80 countries around the world.
Human Rights Watch researchers conduct fact-finding investigations
into violations of international human rights and humanitarian law,
and then publishes those findings in dozens of reports and hundreds
of news releases every year, generating extensive coverage in local
and international media. This publicity helps to inform the public and
hold abusive governments accountable to their international legal
obligations. Human Rights Watch meets with government officials to
urge changes in policy and practice in countries, at the United
Nations, and in foreign capitals around the world. Human Rights
Watch presses for steps to improve human rights, including, where
abuses are particularly egregious, by calling for the conditioning or
withdrawal of military and financial aid, and the imposition of
targeted sanctions on governments. During armed conflicts, HumanRights Watch reports on violations of the laws of war while fighting is
underway.
Human Rights Watch is based in New York, with offices in
Washington, Brussels, London, Moscow, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Geneva,
Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, Beruit and Johannesburg,
among others. On the Internet, Human Rights Watch is located at
www.hrw.org.
I am the Pakistan Director for Human Rights Watch and have worked
for the organization since 2003. I am located in Lahore and divide my
time between Pakistan and my other duties which I conduct in the
Human Rights Watch offices in the UK and New York. I am
responsible for researching, reviewing, and writing reports, briefing
A S I A D I V I S I O N
Brad Adams, Executive Director
Elaine Pearson, Deputy Director
Sophie Richardson,Advocacy DirectorPhil Robertson, Deputy Director
Kanae Doi,Japan DirectorMeenakshi Ganguly, South Asia Director
Nicholas Bequelin, Senior ResearcherSara Colm, Senior Researcher
Ali Dayan Hasan, Pakistan DirectorDavid Mathieson, Senior Researcher
Sunai Phasuk, Senior ResearcherMickey Spiegel,Senior Researcher
essica Evans,ResearcherPhelim Kine, ResearcherTejshree Thapa, ResearcherPema Abrahams,Coordinator
Diana Parker,Associateake Scobey-Thal,Associate
Riyo Yoshioka,Associate
A D V I S O R Y C O M M I T T E E
David Lakhdhir, ChairOrville Schell, Vice Chair
Maureen Aung-Thwin
Edward J. BakerHarry Barnes
Robbie BarnettRobert L. Bernstein
agdish Bhagwati
erome Cohenohn Despres
Mallika DuttMerle Goldman
onathan HechtPaul Hoffman
Sharon HomRounaq Jahan
oanne Leedom-AckermanPerry Link
Kimberly Marteau-EmersonKrishen Mehta
Andrew J. NathanYuri Orlov
Bruce RabbBalakrishnan Rajagopal
Victoria Riskin
Barnett Rubin
ames ScottFrances Seymour
Eric Stover
Ko-Yung Tung
H u m a n R i g h t s W a t c h
Kenneth Roth,Executive Director
Michele Alexander,Deputy Executive Director, Development and
Global InitiativesCarroll Bogert,Deputy Executive Director, External Relations
Emma Daly, Communications Director
Barbara Guglielmo,Director of Opera tions (Acting)Peggy Hicks,Global Advocacy Director
ain Levine,Deputy Executive Director, Program
Dinah PoKempner,General Counsel
ames Ross,Legal & Policy Director
oe Saunders,Deputy Program Director
ames F. Hoge, Jr., Chair
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
350 Fifth Avenue, 34thFloor
New York, NY 10118-3299
Tel: 212-290-4700
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papers, and news releases produced by Human Rights Watch on Pakistan. I advocate
South Asian human rights concerns globally with international and regional bodies,
national governments, and international financial institutions. I am a regular
contributor on Pakistan to the international and domestic media.
On behalf of Human Rights Watch and in the above capacity, I have overseen all
reports relating to Pakistan since May 2003 as well as the annual Human Rights
Watch World Report chapter on Pakistan.
All the views I express are in my professional capacity as the Pakistan Director for
Human Rights Watch.
II. ISI and other intelligence agency abusesSince 2008 Pakistan has had a civilian government and a newly independent
judiciary. However, the military and its intelligence agencies continue to exercise
disproportionate influence and de facto power in many spheres of governance.
Further, the military and its intelligence agencies continue to perpetrate human
rights abuses with impunity. Human Rights Watch knows of no cases in which a
senior military officer has been convicted of a human rights abuse and sentenced to
prison.
The intelligence agencies, particularly, the Inter Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI),are regarded as a state within a state by independent analysts, some government
officials, and even some serving and retired military officials.
Torture is routinely used in Pakistan, both to obtain confessions in criminal cases
and against political and ideological opponents. Torture by the military usually takes
place after the victim has been arrested or abducted; the purpose is to frighten the
victim into compliance. The victim is often let go on the understanding that if he fails
to act as the military demands, another abduction and mistreatment will follow. In
this manner, the victim can be kept in a state of fear for years.
Most acts of torture are usually issue-specific and aimed at producing a confession
during the course of a criminal investigation. However, torture by military agencies
often serves the purpose of "punishment". Most often the threat of torture is enough
to ensure compliance with the demands of the intelligence agencies. The impunity
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with which the Pakistan army and intelligence agencies operate is well-known in
Pakistan. Consequently even a phone call from an intelligence operative can achieve
the required result of the intelligence services.
Human Rights Watch has documented the widespread practice of torture employedby Pakistans intelligence agencies. I have documented cases where the victim has
been tortured and otherwise ill-treated, including by being beaten while hung upside
down and through sleep deprivation. Further, intelligence agencies in Pakistan
abuse their opponents with impunity regardless of public profile or standing.
The case of Rana Sanaullah, law minister in the Punjab provincial government since
2008, and an opposition politician under Gen. Pervez Musharrafs military rule, is
illustrative of the methods employed by the ISI in particular. Sanaullah was arrested
under the sedition law for criticizing the military government in November 1999.
According to Sanaullah, he was whipped, beaten, held incommunicado, and
interrogated for a week in police custody before eventually being released on bail. In
October 2002, Sanaullah was re-elected to the Punjab Assembly and elected deputy
leader of the opposition. On March 8, 2003, heavily armed men, some of whom wore
police uniforms, abducted him.
Sanaullah described to me his mistreatment:
I was handcuffed and, with my face covered with a cloth, I was driven to the
ISI office where I was tortured for three or four hours. They were using some
sharp-edged weapon with which they would cut open my skin and then rub
some sort of chemical in the wound. I felt as if I was on fire every time they
did that. I have 22 such injuries on my body. Later, I was pushed into a car
and thrown on a service lane along the motorway some 20 kilometres from
Faisalabad.
While torture at the hands of police and military agencies has long been widespread,
after 11 September 2001 there has been an increase in the frequency of such
practises. The conduct of the war on terror" in Pakistan has led to serious violations
of human rights. I have researched and documented many of these cases, some of
which have been made public.
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Since 2001, journalists, particularly those reporting on counter-terrorism issues,
have also come under increasing threat, particularly when investigating connections
between militant groups and Pakistans military and intelligence agencies.
Journalists have found themselves in grave danger both at the hands of the Taliban
and affiliated militant groups and the ISI.
In 2010, journalists known to be critical of the military continued to be harassed,
threatened, and mistreated by military-controlled intelligence agencies. On 12 April,
shots were fired at the house of journalist Kamran Shafi, a vocal critic of the armed
forces and their influence over the state. In September investigative journalist Umar
Cheema, who had reported critically on civilian and military authorities in 2010, was
abducted, tortured, and then dumped 120 kilometers from his residence in
Islamabad. Cheema blamed the ISI for the attack. President Asif Ali Zardari pledged
the government would investigate. Despite the formation of an inquiry commission,
to date nobody has been held accountable for the abuse.
Human Rights Watch research shows that the ISI and other intelligence agencies
have abducted people from their homes in the middle of the night. Many victims
have reported being tortured in secret prisons to extract confessions, while the
intelligence agencies ignore court orders to produce their detainees in court.
Our research also shows the involvement of the ISI and intelligence agencies inenforced disappearances, illegal and arbitrary arrests, and torture of individuals in
government custody.
Human Rights Watch also documents abuses by non-state armed groups, such as
the Taliban or Baloch nationalists. In December 2010 we released the report " Their
Future is at Stake: Attacks on Teachers and Schools in Pakistan's Balochistan
Province," which documents the killings by suspected militants between January
2008 and October 2010. In 2010 the Taliban and other armed groups threatened
media outlets over their coverage, a practice documented by Human Rights Watch. Anumber of journalists were killed in the tribal areas and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
province. On 19 April, reporter Azmat Ali Bangash was killed in a suicide bombing in
Orakzai tribal agency while reporting on food delivery at a displaced persons camp.
On 28 July, grenade attacks on the homes of journalist Zafarullah Buneri and Imran
Khan injured at least six women and children. Journalists Mujeebur Rehman
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Siddique and Mirsi Khan were both shot dead in September. In 2010, at least 8
journalists were killed in Pakistan, the highest number killed in any country last year.
Evidence of abuses by security forces and intelligence agencies, including detailed,
specific allegations of ISI involvement or complicity in many cases, can be foundin
the following Human Rights Watch published material.
1. The 132-page report, We Can Torture, Kill, or Keep You for Years:Enforced Disappearances by Pakistan Security Forces in Balochistan,
documents dozens of enforced disappearances, in which the authorities
take people into custody and then deny all responsibility or knowledge of
their fate or whereabouts. The report details 45 alleged cases of enforced
disappearances, the majority in 2009 and 2010. While hundreds of people
have been forcibly disappeared in Balochistan since 2005, dozens of new
enforced disappearances have occurred since Pakistan returned to
civilian rule in 2008. The report can be accessed at
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2011/07/28/we-can-torture-kill-or-keep-you-
years
2. Cruel Britannia: British Complicity in the Torture and Ill-treatment of TerrorSuspects in Pakistan: This 46-page report provides accounts from victims
and their families in the cases of five UK citizens of Pakistani origin
Salahuddin Amin, Zeeshan Siddiqui, Rangzieb Ahmed, Rashid Rauf, and a
fifth individual who wishes to remain anonymoustortured in Pakistan byPakistani security agencies between 2004 and 2007. Human Rights Watch
found that while there is no evidence of UK officials directly participating
in torture, UK complicity is clear. This report is available at
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2009/11/24/cruel-britannia-0
3. Destroying Legality: Pakistans Crackdown on Lawyers and Judges: This84-page report presents eyewitness accounts of police violence, arbitrary
arrests, and mistreatment of detained lawyers across Pakistan since
November 3, 2007. The report details police beatings of lawyers
peacefully protesting government policies from within the grounds of
Pakistans high courts. It is the most detailed account to date of the
November crackdown, showing how Musharraf used the emergency as an
excuse to disempower the judiciary, the legal profession and civil society
in the name of fighting terrorism and Islamic extremists. The report is
available at http://www.hrw.org/reports/2007/12/18/destroying-legality
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2011/07/28/we-can-torture-kill-or-keep-you-yearshttp://www.hrw.org/reports/2011/07/28/we-can-torture-kill-or-keep-you-yearshttp://www.hrw.org/reports/2011/07/28/we-can-torture-kill-or-keep-you-yearshttp://www.hrw.org/reports/2009/11/24/cruel-britannia-0http://www.hrw.org/reports/2007/12/18/destroying-legalityhttp://www.hrw.org/reports/2009/11/24/cruel-britannia-0http://www.hrw.org/reports/2011/07/28/we-can-torture-kill-or-keep-you-yearshttp://www.hrw.org/reports/2011/07/28/we-can-torture-kill-or-keep-you-years -
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4. With Friends Like These...: Human Rights Violations in Azad Kashmir:This 71-page report, follows a major report on abuses in Indian-
administred Kashmir, and is based on research in Azad Kashmir which
uncovers abuses by the Pakistani military, intelligence services, and
militant organizations. The report is available at
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2006/09/20/friends-these
III. Syed Saleem ShahzadSyed Saleem Shahzad was a reporter for the Hong Kong-based Asia Times Online
and for Adnkronos International, the Italian news agency. My dealings with Shahzad
were entirely professional. I had only a passing acquaintance with him. Shahzad
went missing from central Islamabad on the evening of 29 May 2011, on his way to
the studios of Pakistan's Dunya News. An expert on Islamist militancy, he had just
published a book, Inside Al-Qaeda and the Taliban: Beyond Bin Laden and 9/11. He
had been invited to discuss his reporting on a May 22 attack in which 10 people were
killed on PNS Mehran naval-base in Karachi, allegedly by militants linked to al-
Qaeda. Shahzad's body, bearing visible signs of torture, was discovered two days
later, on 31 May, near Mandi Bahauddin.
Shahzad had previously complained of threats by ISI agents for his reporting on links
between the ISI and al-Qaeda. On 19 October 2010, Shahzad sent an email to Human
Rights Watch outlining a recent meeting he had had with the ISI and asking for the
email to be released if he or his family were harmed. Shahzad asked Human Rights
Watch to make details of the meeting public "in case something happens to me or
my family in future." (The email is attached as an appendix below).
Shahzad told Human Rights Watch that he had been threatened by the ISI at the 17
October meeting at the ISI headquarters in Islamabad with the director-general of the
Media Wing of the ISI, Rear Admiral Adnan Nazir, and another ISI official,
Commodore Khalid Pervaiz. Shahzad wrote that the meeting ended with thefollowing comment from Rear Admiral Nazir, which Shahzad construed as a death
threat:
I must give you a favor. We have recently arrested a terrorist and recovered a
lot of data, diaries and other material during the interrogation. The terrorist
had a list with him. If I find your name in the list, I will certainly let you know.
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Shahzad sent the same email and information about other threats to Hameed
Haroon, publisher of the English language daily Dawn and president of the All
Pakistan Newspapers Society, and to colleagues at Asia Times Online. All those who
spoke to Shahzad at the time including professional journalists and Human Rights
Watch understood that a threat had been made to his life through the statement
quoted above. In order to place the threat on record, Shahzad wrote an account of
the meeting and emailed it to the recipients.
Commodore Pervaiz was appointed the new commander of the Mehran naval base in
Karachi, the subject of Shahzad's last story for Asia Times Online, in which he
alleged that al Qaeda had attacked the base in Karachi on 22 May, after talks with
the military to release two naval officials accused of militant links broke down. Later,
in January and March, Shahzad informed Human Rights Watch by telephone of two
other instances where he felt threats were made to him by or on behalf of the ISI by
people who identified themselves as belonging to the agency.
Following her husbands instructions, Shahzad's wife, Anita Saleem, informed
Human Rights Watch of her husband's going missing on 30 May. She told Human
Rights Watch that she had received an anonymous phone call saying that Shahzad
would be released the same evening. I made inquiries and credible sources claimed
that Shahzad was in intelligence agency custody and was expected to be released in
the evening of 30 May. However, despite repeated inquiries, Human Rights Watchreceived no official response from the government of Pakistan about Shahzad's
whereabouts or well-being.
When Shahzad failed to reappear, Human Rights Watch notified the Pakistani and
international media of our grave concern that he had been forcibly disappeared. His
body was found on 31 May near Mandi Bahauddin , bearing signs of torture.
On 1 June, in response to Human Rights Watchs decision to release Shahzads email
to the media and accompanying statements, the ISI issued an unprecedentedstatement through an anonymous spokesperson to the state-controlled Associated
Press of Pakistan. The ISI official denied that any threat had been made to Shahzad,
stating that, "The reported e-mail of Mr. Saleem Shahzad to Mr. Ali Hasan Dayan of
HRW" was "being made the basis of baseless allegations leveled against ISI."
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The following day, Haroon, the Dawnpublisher, went on record to "verify that
allegations levied by HRW at the Inter services Intelligence (ISI) are essentially in
complete consonance with the contents of the slain journalist's e-mail." Haroon
added that he wished to "state on the record" that the late journalist confided to him
that he had received death threats from various officers of the ISI on at least
three occasions in the past five years. Whatever the substance of these
allegations, they form an integral part of Mr. Shahzad's last testimony. Mr
Shahzad's purpose in transmitting this information to three concerned
colleagues in the media was not to defame the ISI but to avert a possible
fulfillment of what he clearly perceived to be a death threat.
The ISI has a long history of abducting critics and others, then engaging in threats
and beatings, telling relatives or others that they should not worry or complain as
their loved one would soon be released, and then releasing the person with the
threat of further abuse if he or she made the abductions and mistreatment known.
Given the threats from the ISI alleged by Shahzad and a long pattern of similar cases
involving the ISI, there is a strong basis to suspect the ISI's involvement in his
abduction and death. If the ISI is committed to demonstrating respect for human
rights and the rule of law, it should welcome an independent investigation so that all
those responsible for this serious crime can be held legally accountable. It is time
that the military and intelligence agencies understood that this kind of behavior is
both abhorrent and unacceptable and took concrete steps to end such practices.
Human Rights Watch urges the commission to fully investigate the death of Shahzad
and the policies and practices of the ISI and other intelligence agencies. There is
substantial information that has been published and Human Rights Watch would
also request the commission to ascertain the names, whereabouts, and telephone
records of the personnel of the Islamabad detachment of the ISI from the day Saleem
Shahzad went missing to the point his body was discovered.
Ali Dayan HasanPakistan Director
Human Rights Watch
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APPENDIX: 19 OCTOBER 2010 EMAIL FROM SALEEM SHAHZAD TO ALI DAYAN HASAN
From: Saleem Shahzad [mailto:[email protected]] [4]
Sent: 19 October 2010 12:54To: Ali Dayan Hasan
Subject: Fw: For the record
Dear Hasan,
I am forwarding this email to you for your record only if in case something happens
to me or my family in future.
Saleem
--- On Mon, 10/18/10, Saleem Shahzad
wrote:
From: Saleem Shahzad
Subject: For the record
To: [email protected] [6]
Date: Monday, October 18, 2010, 1:11 PM
For future reference:
Meeting details as on October 17, 2010 at the ISI headquarters Islamabad between
DG Mediuia Wing ISI, Rear Admiral Adnan Nazir and Syed Saleem Shahzad, the
Bureau Chief Pakistan for Asia Times Online (Hong Kong). Commodore Khalid Pervaiz,
the Deputy Director General of Media Wing ISI was also present during the
conversation.
Agenda of the meeting: discussion on Asia Times Online story published on October
15, 2010, titled Pakistan frees Taliban commander (see
http://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/LJ16Df02.html [7]).
The meeting discussed the following issues.
mailto:[mailto:[email protected]]mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/LJ16Df02.htmlhttp://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/LJ16Df02.htmlmailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[mailto:[email protected]] -
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1-Syed Saleem Shahzad told Rear Admiral Adnan that an intelligence channel leaked
the story. However, he added that story was published only after a confirmation from
the most credible Taliban source. Syed also explained that DG ISPR was sent a text
message about the story, but he did not respond.
2- Rear Admiral Adnan Nazir had the view that story caused a lot of embracement for
the country but observed that issuing a denial from the government side is no
solution. He suggested Syed Saleem Shahzad should write a denial of the story.
3- Syed Shahzad refused to comply with demand and termed it impractical.
4-Rear Admiral Adnan was curious to know the source of the story as it is a shame
that information would leak from the office of a high profile intelligence service.
5- Syed Shahzad called it an intelligence leak but did not specify the source.
6-The conversation was held in an extremely polite and friendly atmosphere and
there was no mince word in the room at any stage. Rear Admiral Adnan Nazir also
offered Syed Saleem Shahzad a favor in following words.
"I must give you a favor. We have recently arrested a terrorist and have recovered a
lot of data, dairies and other material during the interrogation. The terrorist had a hit
list with him. If I find your name in the list, I will certainly let you know,"