URGENT ACTION

BALOCH ACTIVIST HELD INCOMMUNICADO

On 26 December 2018, Emirati security forces detained Pakistani national Rashid Hussain Brohi without an arrest warrant. He has been held incommunicado since then. Emirati authorities have not disclosed his location, any cause for arrest, or any charges being raised against him. There are strong indications that Emirati officials are preparing to deport or extrajudicially render Rashid Hussain to Pakistan, where he was involved in Baloch activism prior to moving to the Emirates. There is reason to fear his life would be in danger if he were forcibly returned to Pakistan.

TAKE ACTION: WRITE AN APPEAL IN YOUR OWN WORDS OR USE THIS MODEL LETTER

Ministry of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation
King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud street
Al Bateen, Abu Dhabi
Contact Form (click on link)                          
Twitter: @ABZayed 
Your Highness Sheikh Abdullah,

On 26 December 2018, Emirati security forces detained Pakistani national Rashid Hussain Brohi. The vehicle Rashid Hussain was traveling in was stopped on the E88 highway by two cars. The two drivers, in civilian clothing, presented badges identifying them as Emirati intelligence agents, but no warrants for either search or arrest, and took Rashid Hussain into custody. Since that time, he has been seen only once, on 29 December, when at roughly 1.00am, armed security personnel, with Rashid Hussain in their custody, entered his relatives’ home to search for his passport. Though Rashid’s family have searched for him and made inquiries through official UAE channels, Emirati authorities have not disclosed his location, a reason for his arrest, or any charges against him. This extended arbitrary and incommunicado detention amounts to enforced disappearance. Given the repeated attempts by UAE authorities to take Rashid Hussain’s passport, it appears that this detention is preparatory to extrajudicial rendition to Pakistan. While in Pakistan, Rashid Hussain was an activist with the Baloch National Movement, and there is reason to believe his life would be in danger if forcibly returned there. 

I urge you to reveal Rashid Hussain’s whereabouts and allow him regular and private communication with his family and a lawyer of his choice, and to ensure that refoulement contrary to international law does not occur and that any charges against Rashid Hussain are tried in open court proceedings with all due legal process.

Yours sincerely,

Additional information

Rashid Hussain Brohi is a 23-year-old Pakistani, of Baloch ethnicity, from the city of Shahdadkot in Sindh province. While in Pakistan he had been an activist in the Baloch National Movement. Between 2010 and 2016 his 14-year-old cousin, elderly uncle (by marriage), and a number of activist colleagues were kidnapped and murdered in unexplained circumstances. Family members attribute their deaths to Pakistani security forces. In August 2017, Rashid Hussain, fearing for his own life, moved to the United Arab Emirates to work at an appliance installation and servicing company run by a relative in Dubai.
On the morning of 26 December 2018, Rashid Hussain was commuting with three colleagues to his workplace when Emirati security forces detained him. At approximately 9.15am, while on the E88 highway passing through Sharjah emirate, their vehicle was stopped by two civilian cars, a white Mercedes-Benz and a purple Ultima. The two drivers, in civilian clothing, presented badges identifying them as Emirati intelligence agents, but no warrants for either search or arrest. They took Rashid Hussain into custody without explanation.
In subsequent days, those close to Rashid Hussain in the UAE searched for him and filed inquiries with Emirati police, and with the court system through an Emirati lawyer. On 29 December 2018, at around 1.00am, roughly 15 armed personnel entered the home of Rashid Hussain and his family members in the emirate of Ajman, with Rashid brought along in handcuffs, in order to search the house for his passport. This is the only time Rashid Hussain has been seen or heard from by his family since his detention on 26 December. The security forces did not find the passport. Subsequently, relatives have received several threatening calls from an individual who refused to identify himself but insisted that they bring Rashid Hussain’s passport to the Khalifa City Police Station in Abu Dhabi. Extended incommunicado detention of this sort meets the principal international legal definition of enforced disappearance, contained in Article 2 of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. (Though the UAE is not a party to this treaty.)
On 30 January 2019, after reports about Rashid Hussain’s detention were circulated by Baloch activists on social media, the Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported on its website that a man “named Rashid Baloch was arrested by the UAE’s law-enforcement agency in Sharjah a few days ago.” Use of “Baloch” as an unofficial last name for individuals from Balochistan is common. Though the date is somewhat discrepant, the other details suggest that the report refers to Rashid Hussain Brohi. Pakistani authorities state that the detainee is wanted as a member of the Balochistan Liberation Army involved in an attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi in November 2018.
If there are criminal charges against Rashid Hussain Brohi, either in Pakistan or the UAE, extradition or other legal proceedings against him must be held in public court proceedings with full respect for the right to fair trial, which includes confidential access to an attorney from the very outset of detention. Refoulement – the forcible return of a migrant who has a well-founded fear of persecution in his country of origin – is forbidden under international law.

PREFERRED LANGUAGE TO ADDRESS TARGET: Arabic, English
You can also write in your own language.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE UNTIL: 3 April 2019
Please check with the Amnesty office in your country if you wish to send appeals after the deadline.

NAME AND PREFERRED PRONOUN: Rashid Hussain Brohi (he/him/his)

Additional TARGETS

Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. HIS EXCELLENCY MR SULAIMAN HAMID ALMAZROUI, Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, 1-2 Grosvenor Cres, Belgravia London SW1X 7EE, 020 7581 1281, email pressuk@mofa.gov.ae Please check with your section before sending appeals after the above date.