Thursday, February 13, 2014

Disappeared

A Pakistani court has ordered the country’s intelligence agencies to produce a prominent anti-drone campaigner, who was abducted last week, by February 20, or to categorically state that they are not holding him, the activist’s lawyers say.

[...]

[Karim] Khan had been due to fly to Europe on February 15, on a trip that would see him testify before members of the European Parliament in Brussels, UK legislators in London and the International Criminal Court in The Hague, on the US' use of drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal areas.

[...]

On Tuesday, Khan’s case was raised with the Pakistani government by the Dutch government, UK legislator Tom Watson, and German MP Hans-Christian Strobele.

"I am extremely concerned for the safety of drone victim and journalist Karim Khan whom I invited to speak to MPs this month […] Given the timing, I am concerned that there may be a connection between his disappearance and his intention to speak to members of parliament.”

  alJazeera
There may be.
Zarmeeneh Rahim, another member of Khan’s legal team, argued that Khan’s abduction erodes faith in peaceful, legal means of redress in Pakistan.

"The issue with a case such as Karim’s is that the perception seems to be that people of Waziristan are either collateral damage in the fight against militants, or once they have become victims of drone strikes, they become perpetrators of violence themselves. In Karim Khan’s case, he was a violent victim of a drone strike, his son and brother were killed, and yet he chose to fight through the courts, and peaceful and legal means of protest," she told Al Jazeera.
And I’m sure it will be noted by those living there what that got him.

UPDATE:  http://youwillanyway2.blogspot.com/2014/02/disappeared-drone-activist-released.html

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