The South African government should investigate the disappearance of Pakistani national Khalid Mehmood Rashid, Amnesty International said on Friday.
In a letter to President Thabo Mbeki, Amnesty International expressed concern that South African government officials may have participated in the ”enforced disappearance and the return of the Pakistani national”.
Rashid was handed over to Pakistani officials at an air base in South Africa eight months ago.
According to Amnesty International the Pakistani officials left the country with Rashid on an unscheduled flight and he has not been seen or heard from since.
On June 29 the Lahore High Court directed Pakistan to disclose his whereabouts within three weeks.
According to the Pakistani High Commission in South Africa, Rashid was ”wanted in Pakistan for his suspected links with terrorism and other anti-state elements … Presently he is in the custody of the government of Pakistan”.
In its letter to Mbeki, Amnesty International said: ”Under international law, states that facilitate transfers to countries where they know or should know that there is a risk of serious human rights abuses are complicit in these abuses, and individuals complicit in abductions, torture or ‘disappearances’ should be held criminally responsible.”
Amnesty International said Pakistan had a documented pattern of arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detention, torture and ”disappearances”, in particular with respect to those arrested on suspicion of terrorism.
While South African authorities have a duty to prevent terrorism, all states should ensure their anti-terrorism measures comply with their obligations under international law, the organisation said.
Amnesty International urged Mbeki to encourage the Pakistani authorities to ensure that Rashid’s lawyers and family were granted immediate access to him.
He should be promptly brought to justice in a fair trial without the imposition of the death penalty or be released from custody without further delay, the movement said.
”The South African government should establish an independent inquiry into the circumstances of Mr Rashid’s transfer, and the possibility that it may have contributed to the commission of human rights abuses.”
Efforts by Rashid’s lawyer, Zahir Omar, to find out where his client was have failed repeatedly.
Omar asked the Pretoria High Court to order the government to urgently request Pakistan not to execute Rashid. He also wanted the government to request Pakistan to return Rashid to South Africa.
He said Rashid had the right to defend himself before deportation was considered.
The case was struck off the court roll last month.
The South African government has denied that Rashid’s deportation amounted to unlawful rendition. — Sapa