[fse-esf] URGENT: English version of the Appeal for the lliberation of Farooq Tariq and others in Pakistan

[Pierre Rousset]

Dear all,

Thus appeal was circulated yesterday in French and later Sapnish.  
Here is the English version.

Quite a number of signatures arrived already. Thanks.

Pierre

Send your signatures to: Pierre. Rousset at ras.eu.org


------

For the immediate release of Farooq Tariq and the other prisoners  
detained after the wave of repression of the democratic movement in  
Pakistan

June 13, 2007

Farooq Tariq, general secretary of the Labour Party Pakistan (LPP),  
was arrested without a warrant on June 5, 2007 at his residence in  
Lahore. A posteriori, the Ministry of the Interior issued a three- 
month detention order against him. In order to further isolate him,  
he was transferred to the prison of Bahawalpur. All visits to him are  
prohibited, except with the prior agreement of the Punjab Home  
Secretary. [1]

Several hundred people were arrested on suspicion on June 5th and 6th  
and many others are subject to judicial procedures. The regime is  
trying to break by force the democratic mobilizations which followed  
the suspension on  March 9th of the President of the Supreme Court,  
Judge Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudry. Hundreds of thousands of  
demonstrators took to the streets to protest against this arbitrary  
measure. Repression by the regime was already responsible for 41  
deaths and many injured in Karachi on May 12th and 13th. President  
Pervez Musharraf almost decreed a state of emergency and no one knows  
how far the military regime is ready to go to stamp out the  
democratic contestation.

Farooq Tariq was arrested because he was fully engaged in these  
mobilizations, in particular in support of the Lawyers’ Movement that  
was created after the suspension of Judge Chaudry. Farooq Tariq is  
also known for his solidarity activities on the international level.  
He contributed to the organization of the World Social Forum of  
Karachi in 2006. He took an active part in other World Forums, like  
those in Mumbai (India) and Nairobi (Kenya), as well as European  
Forums, including the last one in Athens (Greece). He is also an  
activist of the international anti-war movement.

The situation is all the more worrying because the regime does not  
hesitate to use intolerable measures against Farooq Tariq and other  
prisoners: psychological pressures, inhuman conditions of detention  
(over-populated cells in very hot weather, lack of water and sanitary  
facilities...), prohibition of visits...

We call for the respect of human rights and freedoms in Pakistan.

We demand the immediate release of Farooq Tariq and all those who  
have been imprisoned for having taken part in the democratic  
mobilizations.



Send your signatures to: Pierre. Rousset at ras.eu.org


1. Latest news: after 9 days of his arrest Farooq Tariq, was shifted  
from Central jail Bahawalpur to Kot Lakhpat jail Lahore. Still, no  
vist can be done without prior approval by the Punjab Home Secretary,  
which proves very difficult to obtain. Meanwhile, a political  
prisoner of Pakistan Peoples Party in Kot Lakhpat jail, Sarmad  
Mansoor, died of heart attack Thursday. His death is result of very  
bad prison conditions and inhuman attitude of the jail authorities.  
PPP has held the jail authorities responsible for the death.
------

Pierre Rousset
Europe solidaire sans frontières (ESSF)
http://www.europe-solidaire.org
Pierre.Rousset at ras.eu.org



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