URGENT ACTION

PAKISTAN AUTHORITIES ADMIT THEY HAVE MISSING HRD 
On 16 June 2020, after more than seven months of relentless campaigning, there has finally been a breakthrough in the case of disappeared activist and father Muhammad Idris Khattak. Authorities admitted that they have him in their custody and that they will be charging him under the 1923 Official Secrets Act (OSA). While it is a relief that Idris Khattak is alive, his whereabouts remain unknown and a conviction under the OSA could result in a lengthy prison term or the death sentence. As a patient of diabetes requiring daily medication, the health of Khattak is at even greater risk during the COVID-19 outbreak as the conditions of his detention remain unknown and he remains at risk of torture or ill-treatment.

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

Prime Minister Imran Khan
Prime Minister’s Office
Constitution Avenue G-5/2, Islamabad
Pakistan
Tel :+92 51-9045265
Fax: +92 51-9215519
info@pmo.gov.pk 
@ImranKhanPTI
Your Excellency Prime Minister Imran Khan,

I write to you to out of extreme concern for the life and safety of Muhammad Idris Khattak, a 56-year-old human rights defender and a former consultant with Amnesty International who authorities admitted to having in their custody on 16 June 2020. This is the first time that any information about his case has been released since he was disappeared more than seven months ago, on 13 November 2019.

The exact charges against him under the Official Secrets Act have not been made known and neither has the upcoming judicial process. He has not been granted access to his family or his lawyer.

Mr. Khattak is a human rights defender and independent researcher, who has documented human rights violations faced by people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas. 

Few punishments are as cruel as enforced disappearances and not knowing the whereabouts and fate of their loved one is a source of immense pain and anguish for Mr. Khattak’s family. You have previously shown your support for the families of enforced disappearances, even joined them during demonstrations. His daughters Shumaisa and Talia are terrified that the worst will happen to their father while he is the custody of the state.

It is distressing that there is no way to know if Mr. Khattak, a patient of diabetes who already requires daily medication, is receiving adequate protection from the COVID-19 outbreak.  

I call upon your government to immediately disclose the whereabouts of Idris Khattak to his family, and either immediately release him or ensure that he is brought promptly before a judge in a civilian court to rule on the lawfulness of his arrest or detention. He must be granted access to his lawyer and family immediately.

Yours sincerely,

Additional information

On the night of 16 June 2020, the Ministry of Defence finally admitted that they have Idris Khattak in their custody, and this was reiterated by a hearing held by the Joint Investigation Team on 17 June 2020. The exact charges and upcoming judicial process remains unknown. His whereabouts have not been disclosed, and he has still not been granted access to a lawyer or his family.
Idris Khattak has worked as a consultant with Amnesty International and other international human rights NGOs. For years, he has documented a wide range of human rights violations and humanitarian crises in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas. 
He was on his way home from Islamabad when his rented car was intercepted near the Swabi Interchange of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The only other person in the car was the driver with whom Idris Khattak has travelled frequently. The driver was also picked up with Idris Khattak on 13 November 2019. His family only found out about his disappearance once the driver was released the night of 15 November 2019. 
According to the application submitted by Mr Khattak’s family, for the registration of the police case, four men in plain clothes put a black sack on the faces of Mr Khattak and the driver and took them to an undisclosed location. 
The disappeared are at risk of torture and even death. If they are released, the physical and psychological scars endure. Disappearances are a tool of terror that strikes not just individuals or families, but entire societies. Enforced disappearance is a crime under international law and, if committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack, they constitute a crime against humanity.
In Pakistan, enforced disappearance has been used as a tool to muzzle dissent and criticism of military policies.   The individuals and groups targeted in enforced disappearances include Sindhis, Baloch, Pashtuns, the Shia community, political activists, human rights defenders, members and supporters of religious and nationalist groups, suspected members of armed groups, and proscribed religious and political organisations in Pakistan.
Amnesty International has been receiving reports of enforced disappearances and arbitrary detentions of dissidents, students and other citizens from across the country throughout 2019.    
In January 2019, a political dissident Ahmad Mustafa Kanju was forcibly disappeared from his house in Rahim Yar Khan, Punjab province. In October 2019, Suleman Farooq Chaudhry an engineering graduate who was critical of the government on social media was taken from outside Islamabad. The whereabouts of both men are still unknown to their families. 
The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance defines an enforced disappearance as “the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law.”
The current government of Imran Khan promised to criminalize enforced disappearances through legislation, however no such legislation has even been tabled in the parliament. Shireen Mazari, the Minister for Human Rights, has stated that government wants to sign the International Convention for Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances, but no progress has been made on this front. Instead, the practice of enforced disappearance continues in the country with impunity.

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

PLEASE TAKE ACTION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE UNTIL: 30 July 2020 
Please check with the Amnesty office in your country if you wish to send appeals after the deadline.

NAME AND PREFFERED PRONOUN: [Muhammad Idris Khattak] (he/him)

LINK TO PREVIOUS UA: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa33/2331/2020/en/
Additional TARGETS

Mission to the United Nations, Geneva:
56, rue Moillebeau
1209, Genève 19
Switzerland
Telephone: 0227491930
Fax: 0227348085
E-mail: mission.pakistan@ties.itu.int 
Twitter: @PakUNgeneva

Pakistan’s Mission to New York:
8 E 65th St,
New York,
NY 10065,
United States
Telephone: +1 2128798600
Email: pakistan@un.int 
Twitter: @PakistanUN_NY

And copies to:
His Excellency Mr Mohammad Nafees Zakaria  
High Commission for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
35-36 Lowndes Square SW1X 9JN 
020 7664 9276
Fax 020 7664 9224
phclondon@phclondon.org 
www.phclondon.org