[Deathpenalty]death penalty news-----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

URGENT ACTION APPEAL

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3 June 2005

UA 152/05
Fear for safety/ Fear of torture or ill-
treatment/ Death Penalty

PAKISTAN
Ziauddin (m) aged around 15
Abdul Qadir (m) aged around 18
-  Afghan refugees

Amnesty International is concerned for the safety of two
young males who are being held in an adult prison, where
they are at risk of abuse, including sexual abuse, torture and
other ill-treatment by fellow prisoners and officials. There
are also concerns about their trial and subsequent death
sentence which is currently under appeal.

Ziauddin, who has polio and was 13 years old at the time of
his arrest, and Abdul Qadir who was 16 years old, were
both sentenced to death in 2003 after being accused of
murder. Though court documents clearly record both as
being minors at the time of their arrest, they were not tried
in a juvenile court, but in an Anti-Terrorism Court. They
were also sentenced to death in violation of Pakistan's
commitments under the UN Convention of the Rights of
the Child and the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, both
of which ban the death penalty for anyone below 18 years
at the time of the alleged offence.

Ziauddin and Abdul Qadir are currently being held in Much
Prison, east of the provincial capital Quetta, where they
share a cell with 6 men who have also been sentenced to
death. There are fears that they may be subjected to abuse,
including sexual abuse by fellow prisoners and officials.
They are also at risk of torture or other ill-treatment as in
2003 the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan's annual
report stated that ''torture and brutality remained endemic at
jails, with a large number of incidents going unreported.''
Concerns are heightened by reports of several deaths as a
result of torture in prisons every year.

Much Prison is heavily overcrowded with some 68 men
under sentence of death. While conditions of detention in
Pakistan are generally harsh, those held under a death
sentence are kept in particularly appalling conditions in
cells which usually measure some 9x12 feet, with an
attached toilet. Under the law of Pakistan, prisoners facing
a death sentence are to be held separate from each other
and from other prisoners. However, due to the
overcrowding of prisons generally, these requirements are
routinely ignored.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all
cases. The death penalty is a symptom of a culture of
violence, and not a solution to it. It has not been shown to
have any more deterrent effect than other punishments and
carries the risk of irrevocable error. The death penalty is
seen as the ultimate form of cruel, inhuman and degrading
treatment and a violation of the right to life, as proclaimed
in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other
international human rights instruments.

As a state party to the UN Convention of Rights of the
Child (CRC), Pakistan has undertaken not to execute
anyone for an offence committed when they were under the
age of 18. Nevertheless, children continue to be sentenced
to death. Amnesty International is aware of at least 12
juveniles who were given the death penalty, even though in
December 2001, President Pervez Musharraf ordered the
commutation of death sentences of all those juveniles who
had been sentenced to death before July 2000. This
commutation order has not been adequately implemented
as many juveniles have found it difficult to prove that they
were below 18 years old at the time of the alleged offence.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to
arrive as quickly as possible:
- calling for Ziauddin and Abdul Qadir to be protected from
torture and ill-treatment, including rape and sexual abuse,
whether by officials or other detainees;
- calling for them not to be detained in the same cell as any
adult detainees;
- asking for the death sentences passed on Ziauddin and
Abdul Qadir be commuted and the use of the death penalty
in all parts of Pakistan be banned on the basis of Pakistan's
commitments under the UN Convention of the Rights of
the Child and the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance both
of which ban the death penalty for anyone below 18 years
at the time of the alleged offence;
- urging the government to promptly and completely
implement President Pervez Musharraf's commutation
order of December 2001 and to show leniency in those
cases where juveniles have been unable to adequately prove
that they were juveniles at the time of the alleged offence
on account of their parents' failures to register their births
or of delays in the criminal justice system to ascertain their
age.

APPEALS TO:
President Pervez Musharraf
Pakistan Secretariat
Islamabad
Pakistan
Fax: 011 92 51 9221422
Salutation: Dear President

Awais Ghani
Governor of Balochistan
Governor House
Quetta
Pakistan
Fax: 011 92 81 920 2178 / 2992
Salutation: Dear Governor

COPIES TO:
Ambassador Jehangir Karamat
Embassy of Pakistan
2315 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 686 1544

Please send appeals immediately. Check with the
Colorado office between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm,
Mountain Time, weekdays only, if sending appeals after
July 15, 2005.


Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement that
promotes and defends human rights.

This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including
contact information and stop action date (if applicable). Thank
you for your help with this appeal.

Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
PO Box 1270
Nederland CO 80466-1270
Email: uan at aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 303 258 1170
Fax:     303 258 7881

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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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