By Shayne R. Burnham
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PAKISTAN – Twenty year old reporter Javid Lehri, from Balochistan, a southwest province in Pakistan, revealed that he was tortured while imprisoned in Quetta.  Lehri was a reporter for Azadi, a Urdu language local daily newspaper.

Lehri disappeared on November 29, 2007, taken by military intelligence agents from his dormitory in the Kuzdar district.  There was no explanation for his forced disappearance.  Some claim it was for his bold reporting in criticizing the government.  Lehri was imprisoned and released nine months later in August 2008.

In an interview with the Daily Times, he revealed that in the first three days of imprisonment, Lehri was hung up by his feet and beaten.  He was then chained and tortured.  “The torture was so unbearable that I prayed for death,” he said “I hoped I could find some object in my cell that I could use to commit suicide with.”

He was then asked the meaning behind Azadi and what “liberation” they were fighting for.  Lehri said in response, “I told them that I only worked for the newspaper as a correspondent and I could not change either its name or its editorial line.  They wouldn’t believe me and continued to beat me.”

After his release this past August, Lehri suffers from depression, insomnia and digestive problems.  He also states that he receives threats.  He said, “I am still receiving threatening phone calls on my mobile phone warning me against talking about what happened to me in prison.”

Human rights groups such as the Worldwide Press Freedom Organization, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and Reporters Without Borders urge the government to investigate these cases involving journalists.  “The conflict between government forces and separatist movements ravaging Baluchistan has been devastating for the region’s journalists,” said the Worldwide Press Freedom Organization.  “This arrest was in fact illegal and constitutes an offense against the rule of law.  The terrifying account given by Javid Lehri, who was kidnapped and tortured for political reasons, should prompt the central government to open an early investigation so that those guilty of these vicious acts can be punished.”

In Baluchistan, there is tension between ethnic Baluch militant groups and government forces.  As a result, journalists are often caught in the middle of the violence.

For more information, please see:

Committee to Protect Journalists – Three Reporters Missing in Pakistan’s restive Baluchistan Province – 6 March 2008

Daily Times – 3rd Journalist From Same Newspaper ‘Disappears’ – 4 March 2008

Reporters Without Borders – Balochi Journalist Reveals He Was Tortured in Prison – 24 December 2008