A new report from Human Rights Watch finds "credible evidence" that Pakistan's military is torturing many lawyers who were peacefully protesting against the country's military leader, Gen. Pervez Musharraf.From Human Rights Watch:Most of those detained are being held without charge. Hundreds of lawyers are being held under terrorism charges without any factual basis. Treason charges also have been instituted against some. Almost two-thirds of Pakistan’s senior judges remain under house arrest.Is it any coincidence that the Pakistani government imposed martial law after the country’s Supreme Court heard legal challenges to Musharraf’s controversial Oct. 6 re-election?HRW's Asia Director Brad Adams says:"Musharraf has defied domestic opinion and the international community by rounding up many of Pakistan’s finest lawyers and subjecting them to solitary confinement and, very possibly, torture because they protested his ugly power grab. The past conduct of the security services leaves the world with no choice but to assume the worst about the fate of those being held incommunicado.”In recent developments, Musharraf's government ordered the detention of opposition leader (and former prime minister) Benazir Bhutto.
Before you go
Reader donations, many as small as just $5, are what fund the work of writers like this—and keep our content free and accessible to everyone. But when donations slow down, it puts our future reporting at risk. To get back on track, we're aiming to add 400 contributions from readers by the end of the month.
It only takes a minute to donate. Will you chip in before the deadline?
Sanhita SinhaRoy, managing editor of American Libraries magazine, is a former managing editor of In These Times and a former copy editor of Playboy. (Yes, she did read it for the articles.)
More articles by Sanhita SinhaRoy
Culture
A Childhood Exorcised
Jeanette Winterson's adoptive mother was like no other.
Dispatch
Library of Alexandria in Danger
Will Egypt's newly elected Islamists respect freedom of expression and tolerate 'sacrilegious' books?
Dispatch
Blackwater to Battle Pirates
The private security firm eyes a new market: the high seas.
Similar articles
The ITT List
Clinton, Webb, Byrd and Bayh Want Hearings On Contingency Planning for Troop Withdrawal
Brian Zick
The ITT List
Cheney Invited to Testify About Klamath Salmon Kill
Brian Zick
The ITT List
“You Behold in Me a Horrid Example of Free Thought”
Brian Cook
Deadline: Thursday
Reader donations, many as small as just $5, have kept In These Times publishing for 45 years. But when donations slow down, it puts our future reporting at risk. To get back on track, we're aiming to add 400 contributions from readers by the end of the month. Will you be one of them?