Hotline Asia Urgent Appeals -- UA040106(1)

Action Requested || Sample Letter || Background
Please respond before 31 January 2004
Update

Summary

Pakistani journalist, Mr. Khawar Mehdi Rizvi, has been missing since the 16 December 2003 arrest of two French journalists with whom he had been working. The journalists were arrested for visiting Quetta (in the Baluchistan Province of Pakistan, near the border with Afghanistan) without prior permission.

While Pakistani authorities deny that he has been arrested or detained, Mr. Rizvi has been shown in a state-owned television station's reports which allege that the three journalists had fabricated a report defaming Pakistan. It is believed that the Federal Intelligence Authority (FIA) are detaining and interrogating Mr. Rizvi.

Mr. Rizvi's family and human rights groups hold grave fears for his well-being. They are calling for Mr Rizvi to be either released immediately, or charged with an offense, and that due process of the law be respected.

The arrest of the French journalists and the disappearance of Mr. Rizvi come in the wake of a crackdown on the Pakistani press. The arrest of editors and reporters from the local and regional media is becoming common according to international human rights organizations.

Action Requested

Please write polite letters expressing concern about the disappearance and fear for Mr Rizvi's well-being, requesting that:

1. Mr. Khawar Mehdi Rizvi be released immediately or, if there is evidence that he was involved in an illegal activity, that he be charged with an offense, and that due process of the law be respected;

2. those responsible for the incommunicado detention of Mr. Rizvi without charge be brought to justice; and

3. the Johannesburg Principles on National Security, Freedom of Expression and Access to Information be respected.

Sample Letter

Background

A Two French journalists, Mr. Marc Epstein and Mr. Jean-Paul Guilloteau, who work for the French newsweekly, L'Express, were arrested in Karachi on 16 December 2003. They were charged under the Foreigners Act 1946 for traveling to Quetta, in the Baluchistan Province of Pakistan, without prior permission. They were released on bail on 24 December 2003 and are due to be tried in the Sindh High Court on 10 January 2004, for non-compliance with the conditions of their visas.

Mr. Rizvi, a Pakistani journalist who was working with the French journalists, has been missing since 16 December 2003. It is alleged that he was taken into custody along with the French journalists, is being detained incommunicado by the Federal Intelligence Authority (FIA) and is being interrogated. No case has been registered against him, nor has he been produced in court. His family, and local and international human rights organizations believe that he is at grave risk of torture in order to coerce him to "make a suitable statement".

A habeas corpus petition was lodged by Mr. Rizvi's brother on 24 December and a Sindh High Court division bench instructed the deputy attorney general and the FIA to submit their comments on 30 December 2003.

The English language daily newspaper, Dawn, reports that two FIA officials appeared in court on 30 December 2003 and denied that Mr. Rizvi had been arrested or detained by the agency (Dawn, 31 December 2003). They claimed that they knew nothing about his whereabouts, and maintained this position when the petitioner's counsel stated that Mr. Rizvi had been shown under FIA arrest by the Pakistan Television a number of times.

Reporters Without Borders noted on 31 December 2003 that Mr. Rizvi, a freelance journalist who regularly works with foreign journalists, had appeared at least three times in reports on PTV state television, including on the day before the submission of the habeas corpus petition. The channel has also broadcast accounts by people aiming to prove that the three journalists had put together a faked report in Baluchistan which defamed the state of Pakistan.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has urged the government to release Mr. Rizvi and to respect journalists' professional rights. The Commission's Secretary General, Hina Jilani, has said that Mr. Rizvi cannot be accused of violating any law by visiting any part of the country, and that the attempt at avoiding disclosure of his status was also a clear violation of his basic rights under the national law. She said that if the authorities have a case against Mr. Rizvi, the facts should be presented before a court and the due process of law respected.

Human Rights Watch have pointed out that journalists have the right to freedom of movement to seek information, and have urged the Pakistani government to act in accordance with the Johannesburg Principles on National Security, Freedom of Expression and Access to Information. These principles were drafted by experts in international law and human rights, and have been endorsed by the United Nations special rapporteurs on freedom of expression and on the independence of judges and lawyers.

Johannesburg Principle 19 addresses access to restricted areas, and provides that: "governments may not prevent journalists from entering areas where there are reasonable grounds to believe that violations of human rights or humanitarian law are being, or have been, committed. Government may not exclude journalists… from areas that are experiencing violence or armed conflict except where their presence would pose a clear risk to the safety of others."

Sources:
Dawn; Human Rights Watch; Reporters Without Borders; Human Rights Commission
of Pakistan; National Commission for Justice and Peace.

Further Information:
Human Rights Watch
Reporters Without Borders
Dawn
Article 19 and
AIF No 2, 2003

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