Journalist’s detention challenged in PHC
PESHAWAR – The continuous detention of an Afghan Journalist Sami Yousufzai and his driver Muhammad Saleem by intelligence agencies was challenged in the Peshawar High Court on May 13.
A paternal cousin of detainee Muhammad Abdullah has filed a habeas corpus petition on behalf of Sami’s mother. The petition was filed through human rights activist advocate Kamran Arif who has requested the high court to fix the petition within a day or two as it related to life and liberty of two individuals.
The petitioner has prayed to the court to direct the respondents to produce the detainees before the court. He further prayed to the court to declare the arrest and detention of both the detainees without lawful authority and of no legal effect.
The petitioner has also sought interim relief, requesting the court to issue directives that the two detainees may not be removed from the territorial jurisdiction of the high court.
The petitioner stated that Sami Yousufzai was an Afghan journalist who worked as a special correspondent for the weekly “Newsweek” magazine. He was in Pakistan on an Afghan passport and valid travel documents.
He stated that according to the newspaper reports on April 21, Sami Yousafzai along with US freelance journalist Eliza Griswold and their driver Muhammad Saleem (a Pakistani national) were detained at a military checkpoint near Bannu and taken for questioning.
He stated that the family of the detainees had not heard of them since April 21. He added that Ronald Moreau, head of the Weekly magazine in Pakistan, informed the mother of Sami that both the detainees were taken into custody by the Field Intelligence Unit under the command of Respondent No 2 and 3 (ministry of defence and commander XI Corps of the Pakistan Army) and that they were being held incommunicado at an undisclosed location in Peshawar.
The petitioner contended that the arrest and continuous detention of the detainees was against the law and fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution. He added that the arrest and detention of the detainees violates the provisions of Article 4 of the Constitution.
Source: Dawn
Date:5/14/2004
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