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7th November 2007
For immediate release
PAKISTAN: TREATMENT OF LAWYERS CONDEMNED
The treatment of lawyers by President Musharraf of Pakistan was today condemned both by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and JUSTICE, its British section.
The ICJ called on the Government to suspend preventive detention orders issued against hundreds of perceived opponents, including at least ten leading lawyers in the country. Lawyers detained include the President and a former President of the Supreme Court Bar Association and the President of the Baluchistan Bar Association. Also detained is ICJ Commissioner and United Nations Special Rapporteur on religious intolerance, Asma Jahangir. She was put under house arrest late on 3 November, under a 90-day preventive detention order, reportedly to prevent her making 'inflammatory speeches'. Lawyer Hina Jilani, who is also United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on human rights defenders, is expected to be detained by waiting police when she returns from overseas, under an arrest warrant that has already been issued.
The ICJ and JUSTICE called on the Government to permit people to exercise their right to peacefully protest and reminded the authorities that individuals can be held personally and criminally responsible for serious human rights violations, including unlawful violence used against peaceful demonstrators.
Nicholas Howen, Secretary General of the ICJ said: 'In his Proclamation the President says he is committed to the rule of law. We call on the Government immediately to suspend preventive detention orders issued against lawyers, reinstate the dismissed Chief Justice and restore the constitution'.
Roger Smith, Director of JUSTICE, said: 'We call on the President of Pakistan to heed the call from the ICJ and from the Bar Council, Law Society and Association of Muslim Lawyers of England and Wales. The Government of Pakistan simply remove by its own proclamation all legal restraints on emergency powers and other actions of the Government.'
Overleaf is a note on the intervention of the ICJ in Pakistan earlier this year.
For further information, contact the ICJ in Geneva on 00 41-22-9793800 or Roger Smith on 07785 781 030.
Note
In April 2007, after the suspension of the former Chief Justice, the ICJ sent a high-level mission to Pakistan, led by senior Malaysian advocate and former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Dato' Param Cumaraswamy. That mission expressed grave concern at the history and pattern of attacks on the independence of judges and lawyers in Pakistan, including the detention and suspension in March of the former Chief Justice and the arbitrary detention and torture or ill-treatment of lawyers peacefully demonstrating in support of judicial independence. At the end of the mission, Dato' Param Cumaraswamy concluded:
… the present judicial crisis, if not resolved soon, could deteriorate and cause irreversible damage to constitutional order in Pakistan. The Mission urges the Government to address the underlying causes of this crisis and to restore a fundamental democratic principle that is pivotal for the rule of law in Pakistan - the independence of the judiciary.
Chairman of Council Lord Goodhart QC Director Roger Smith
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