Terror on death row

Date.15 Oct, 2015

OVER 800 PRISONERS ON DEATH ROW IN PAKISTAN WERE TRIED AS ‘TERRORISTS’ THOUGH IN MANY CASES (AS MANY AS 86%) THERE WAS NO LINK TO ANYTHING REASONABLY DEFINED AS ‘TERRORISM’

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Reducing the threat from terrorism against the civilian population of Pakistan is a challenge that has plagued and polarised Pakistan’s society for many years. Over the course of2014 alone, we have seen numerous terrorist attacks on civilian targets. Most recently there has been the terrible attack on children at the Army Public School in Peshawar an event that shocks the conscience of any sensible person.

Unfortunately, populist political responses to these outrages have tended to exacerbate, rather than ameliorate, the problem. For example, the United States responded to the horror of 9/11 by creating a global War on Terror that has made the world a far more dangerous place. This is not a novel issue though it does tend to be one where history repeats itself: in the 1970s, the British response to the Irish Republican Army (IRA) was to sacrifice the very principles for which British society was renowned primarily, due process and the rule of law. The consequent inequities resulted in the erosion of the rights of other British citizens. It was not until Britain saw the error in its populist response that some kind of resolution to the Irish Problem began to be achieved.

In Pakistan, we have likewise seen a legislative framework that is intended for use to combat acts of terrorism. This has come with such a wide definition of terrorist as to swallow the entire purpose of the laws. As this report will set out, these laws have not been used to combat terrorism so much as to undermine the essential nature of Pakistani justice.

The Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997 is one such piece of legislation. Under the Act (analysed in more detail below), trials are rushed, often denying lawyers acting for the accused time to present a full defence. There is also an increased likelihood of police torture, and fundamental rights of defendants are explicitly suspended. Critical rights that have been essential to Islamic law for centuries have been dissolved. In short, the overuse and abuse of this Act means that swathes of defendants whose alleged crimes bear no relation to terrorism have been sentenced to death following extremely unfair trials whilst terrorist attacks continue unabated.

Using statistical analysis and individual case studies, this report explores the use of Pakistan’s anti-terrorism legislation over the past two decades, specifically in relation to death penalty cases.

It is particularly concerning to note that the data we have obtained suggests that more than 800 of all those on death row in Pakistan were tried as terrorists. In the province of Sindh, the proportion of defendants tried as terrorists rises to a full 40% of all death penalty cases.

The sheer numbers suggest that the anti-terrorism laws are being overused. Data and projections from individual case studies suggest that as many as 86% of those sentenced under the terrorism laws had nothing to do with terror at all. A study of the individual cases illustrates that the laws are being applied to people with no relationship to terrorism at all from a 14 year old youth accused of kidnapping to another young man accused of killing his own father in a dispute over inheritance.

Investigation conducted into individual cases of those sentenced to death by anti-terrorism courts over the past two decades likewise shows that instead of being reserved for the most serious cases of recognizable acts of terror, the anti-terror legislation is being used to try to usurp the role of our courts in ordinary criminal cases.

The legislative scheme entails significant violations of human rights and has also failed to serve as a deterrent against acts of terror. A re-examination of existing cases and a review of the current legislation are both urgently required. Furthermore, lessons must be learnt from past mistakes when looking forward to new ways of combatting terrorism in the coming months and years.