Home Latest News U.S. Releases 10 Pakistanis from Bagram Prison

U.S. Releases 10 Pakistanis from Bagram Prison

by Newsweek Pakistan
Massoud Hossaini—AFP

Massoud Hossaini—AFP

Ex-detainees have reportedly been repatriated to Pakistan but there is no information on their current whereabouts.

U.S. authorities have released 10 Pakistani prisoners from Afghanistan’s Bagram Prison and repatriated them to Pakistan, lawyers said on Thursday.

According to the Justice Project Pakistan (JPP), which has been representing the families of the Bagram detainees in a petition before the Lahore High Court since 2010, authorities in Pakistan have yet to issue any information on the whereabouts of the detainees. In a press release, the organization said Justice Khalid Mehmood Khan had “repeatedly criticized the indifferent attitude of the Pakistani government toward the plight of its own citizens and for dragging its feet in negotiating the repatriation of its citizens with the U.S. government.”

The International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC), which informed the families of the detainees that their relatives had been freed, also has no information on where the ex-prisoners might have been taken.

“We are relieved to hear of the news of the release of these 10 detainees, but are dismayed by the fact that once again, the Pakistani government has failed to notify either the families of the detainees or their lawyers about their repatriation and location in Pakistan,” said Sarah Belal, lead counsel for the JPP. “We urge the Pakistan government to immediately disclose the whereabouts of these detainees and end their incommunicado detention.”

The 10 men released are Awal Noor, Bismillah Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Paizoo Khan, Farman Shah, Abdul Sattar, Shah Khalid, Wajid Rehman, Rehmatullah, Sallah Muhammad (Yunus Rehmatullah). All had been imprisoned without charges or access to lawyers for several years.

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