UN experts concerned over disappearance of HR activist

ISLAMABAD: UN human rights experts on Friday called on the Pakistani authorities to end the secret detention of human rights defender Idris Khattak, who has not been heard from in more than nine months.

The Special Rapporteurs, Independent Experts and Working Groups are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. They include: Mr Nils Melzer, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances: Mr Luciano Hazan (Chair-Rapporteur), Mr Tae-Ung Baik (Vice Chair), Mr Bernard Duhaime, Ms Houria Es-Slami, and Mr Henrikas Mickevicius; Ms Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Ms Agnes Callamard, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Mr Fernand de Varennes RP, Special Rapporteur on minority issues.

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the enforced disappearance of Mr Khattak by Pakistan,” the experts said. “The mere acknowledgment that he is in custody does not absolve Pakistan of its human rights obligations. Pakistani authorities must produce him and guarantee him a fair trial.”

According to a statement issued from Geneva, the experts are seriously concerned for his life as he has not had contact with the outside world since he was taken into custody on November 13, 2019.

Khattak is a former consultant for Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and has worked on a number of reports on disappearances in Pakistan’s erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas. He was abducted and disappeared for seven months before the government acknowledged custody of him.

“We are concerned that Mr Khattak’s human rights are being violated,” the experts said. He has not been allowed to speak to his lawyer, family and he allegedly has not been given a medical examination by an external independent doctor.