Disappeared Drone Activist Released

Karim Khan told Al Jazeera on Friday that he had been kept handcuffed and blindfolded in what he called a "torture cell" for eight days, standing on his hands and feet.

He said he had been punched, slapped and beaten with a stick and a leather strip. The activist also said he was hung upside down at certain points, and that the soles of his feet were beaten with the leather strap.

Khan was abducted on the outskirts of Islamabad on February 5, just days before he had been due to testify before European parliamentarians about US drone attacks.

He said he was set free in the town of Tarnol, near the city of Rawalpindi, in the early hours of Friday.

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The activist said he had no idea who was responsible for his abduction, and did not cast blame on intelligence agencies, which had been suspected of holding him.

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Khan told Al Jazeera he would fly to Europe be part of the delegation briefing parliamentarians and that he would continue his work for the sake of "innocent people" who are killed by drones and "labelled as terrorists".

  alJazeera

Though Khan was not able to identify the men who had detained him, a court on Wednesday had ordered the government to produce him by February 20 or provide the reason for his detention.

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Last month, a new law was passed allowing the security forces to detain terror suspects for up to 90 days without disclosing their whereabouts or the allegations against them.

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“He was questioned about names and people in Waziristan. Many names he did not know about. He was questioned about his drone work, and was told not to speak to media otherwise they will come back for them.”

  Tribune.pk

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.

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[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.

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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