Impunity Watch Reporter, AsiaSARGODHA, Pakistan- Five Americans being held in Pakistan on suspicion of plotting attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan told a court on Monday that they had been tortured by police- charges that could add to political sensitivities surrounding the case.
They made the allegations during a hearing before a special anti-terrorism court in Sargodha. The hearing was held in order for police to submit a charge sheet alleging that the suspects had conspired in a terrorist act, a formal legal step that brings them closer to a possible indictment.
The Americans also shouted the allegations to reporters as they were being transported from the building. Prison authorities and police denied any ill-treatment.
The five students were inside a prison van when several of them shouted “we are being tortured” within earshot of reporters, the Associated Press reported. Senior police officer Usman Anwar, and Aftab Haanif, deputy superintendent of Sargodha jail where the men are being held, denied there had been any torture and said the defendants were receiving better food than regular inmates. Anwar said “We categorically deny that we tortured them at any stage of the interrogation…The court has ordered a medical examination that will make everything clear.”
One officer said “None of the five men said anything of the sort in the court. As far as I know, one these men had a stomach problem.”
The students, all young Muslims from the Washington area, were detained in December at a house in the Punjabi town of Sargodha not long after arriving in Pakistan. The police have publicly accused them of plotting terror attacks, having links to al-Qaida and attempting to join militants fighting American troops across the border in Afghanistan after contacting militants on the internet. Defense attorneys for the men say they wanted to travel to Afghanistan and had no plans for attacks.
The five were reported missing by their families in late November after one of them left behind a farewell video message showing scenes of war and casualties and calls for Muslims to be defended. Two are of Pakistani descent, one is of Egyptian descent and two are of Ethiopian descent.
For more information, please see:
BBC News- Five US Terror Accused In Pakistan Allege Torture– 18 January 2010
The Canadian Press- 5 Americans Detained In Pakistan Tell A Court, Shout To Reporters That They Are Being Tortured– 18 January 2010
Daily Times- Detained Americans Complain of Tortures – 18 January 2010
