PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Concerns are mounting
over the safety of Dr Shakil Afridi in Peshawar
jail. Afridi is alleged to have given information
and DNA evidence to the US authorities that led to
identification and then the killing of Osama bin
Laden. Authorities in the northern Pakistani
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province are themselves
not confident they can protect Afridi in prison.
"We have written to the Punjab government to shift
Shakil to Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi but the
request was turned down, Mian Iftikhar Hussain,
the KP Information Minister told IPS.
"Shakil will remain in Peshawar prison
where security arrangements have been enhanced,"
he said. "We can shift him to another jail in KP
but presently he will remain here." He added, "his
relatives are satisfied over Shakil's security in
jail."
Afridi has been given a 33-year
prison sentence. The imprisonment is becoming
increasingly contentious in the face of US
pressure on the Pakistani authorities over his
safety, and in
the face of growing
pressure from his family and civil rights groups
in Pakistan.
The appearance of Shakil
Afridi's brother in the media challenging the
conviction under the Frontier Crime Regulations
has triggered a new debate on the fate of the
doctor.
His case has been mishandled by
the authorities in Khyber Agency as Afridi was not
given a chance to tell his side of the story and
defend himself, his elder brother Jamil Afridi
told IPS on the telephone.
Dr Afridi was
arrested three weeks after the assassination of
Bin Laden in the garrison city Abbottabad, on May
2 last year. Following that he was held
incommunicado.
On May 23 this year, Afridi
was convicted in Khyber Agency, one of the seven
districts of the Federally Administered Tribal
Areas (FATA) under sections 121A, 123, 123A and
124 of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section
11 of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR), for
acting against the interests of the state.
On May 30, the Khyber Agency court, in
essence a tribal court, declared that Afridi had
been convicted for backing terrorism. The
Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA) have
separate courts from the rest of Pakistan. British
rulers promulgated the FCR back in 1901 to check
law and order there.
The FCR is in place
in seven tribal agencies, including Khyber Agency,
where the political agent works as police as well
as judge.
The court also ruled that Afridi
had helped the banned Lashkar-i-Islamic (LI) a
Khyber Agency-based militant group. The court
declared that sabotage activities were planned at
his office, and that Afridi was instrumental in
damaging 60 schools in the agency.
The
tribal court alleged that Afridi had been giving
financial assistance to LI that was used to fight
against the army. Another charge by the FCR Court
against the doctor is that he provided treatment
to militants who suffered injuries in the fight
against army. Afridi worked as Agency surgeon - a
top health position in Khyber Agency.
"These allegations are rubbish," Jamil
Afridi, who met Shakil in Peshawar prison, quoted
his brother as saying. The doctor reportedly said,
"I am innocent and the scale of justice will tip
in my favor."
"I saw my brother. His
health condition is bad. But the great fear we
have is that he is facing danger in Peshawar jail
which is home to dozens of dangerous militants,"
Jamil Afridi said, adding they had filed an appeal
in the court of the Frontier Crimes Regulation
commissioner on June 1.
Samiullah Afridi,
one of Afridi's five lawyers, who filed the appeal
against the sentence, argued that the tribal court
had passed an order based on mere surmises and
conjectures. He said the order should be dismissed
and the appellant acquitted.
"My brother
had committed no wrong and is completely
innocent," Jamil told IPS. "He has no links with
LI. The members of the Mangal Bagh-led militant
group LI never met Shakil as described in the
verdict by the FCR court."
The LI had
kidnapped Shakil in 2008. The doctor was released
after payment of a million rupees (10,600 dollars)
in ransom. The allegations that Dr Afridi gave
financial assistance to this organization are
baseless, Jamil said.
The treatment being
meted out to Afridi after his arrest is against
fundamental rights, added Jamil, a teacher. "The
authorities have not provided a copy of the
judgment to Dr Afridi or to his lawyer," he said.
"Every accused has the right to have
representation in court."
Afridi's lawyers
told IPS it was a fundamental right of family
members to visit him in jail. We have appealed to
Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad
Chaudhry and to Peshawar High Court Chief Justice
Dost Muhammad Khan to take suo motu notice
and provide justice to him.
Jamil said
that the vaccination campaign that Dr Afridi ran
in Abbottabad to obtain blood samples of Bin
Laden's family members had the authorization of
the health department.
The Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa deputy secretary of health and the
district health officer had allowed Shakil to
carry out the campaign, and the Abbottabad health
authorities had provided 20 employees for it,
Jamil said. "My brother did not feel guilty and
that was the reason he did not leave the country
although he had a US visa."
Idrees Kamal
with the local NGO Amn Tehreek (Peace Movement)
told IPS that Afridi should be given a free and
fair trial in open court.
"It is the law
of the country that every accused should have
access to lawyers and family members. But Shakil
has been denied this. Only his brother had a
10-minute meeting with Shakil in prison", he said.
"We will continue our efforts to provide justice
to Shakil."
The US has issued a statement
saying that it is watching the trial and that the
allegations that Afridi had been helping militants
were being analyzed.
The Ansarul Islam
(AI), a rival militant group to the LI has
demanded the death sentence for Afridi. The
33-year sentence is far less than his crime,
therefore he should be awarded stricter punishment
to send a message that helping militants is a
dangerous act and entails dangerous consequences,
Haji Amir Akbar of AI told IPS.
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