Front Line is deeply concerned following reports that human rights defender Advocate Parvez Aslam Choudhry has gone into hiding due to a fear of arrest. Furthermore, Advocate Anis AA Saadi has not been seen or heard from by his family since 6 March 2009.

Further Information

Parvez Aslam Choudhry is Chairperson of Legal Aid for the Destitute and Settlement (LADS) in Lahore. In 2003 he was awarded the Bishop John Joseph Award by Pakistan Minorities Front for his outstanding work in defending the rights of minorities at considerable personal risk. Anis AA Saadi is Co-Chairperson of the Free Legal Aid and Settlement (FLA AS).

On 11 March 2009, at approximately 1.45 in the morning, police officers arrived at the house of Parvez Aslam Choudhry, in Youhanabad in Lahore, and asked to speak to the human rights lawyer. His wife informed them that he was not at the house and inquired as to why they were looking for him. The police informed her that Section 144 had been imposed in several cities of Punjab, effective for 3 days from 11 March, banning any form of protest march or gathering of people.

On 12 March 2009 lawyers from across Pakistan began a demonstration which is due to culminate in a sit-in outside the Parliament on 16 March. They are demanding the reinstatement of senior judges who had been removed by President Musharraf under the emergency rule at the end of 2007. Many lawyers and opposition group members have reportedly been placed under house arrest. Parvez Aslam Choudhry has chosen not to return to his home while these restrictions are in place for fear that he will be detained.

On 6 March 2009, Anis AA Saadi attended the Session Court of the Lahore High Court for a rape case involving a member of a religious minority that he was voluntarily working on. His family have not heard from him since. They fear that he may have been detained by the Special Police and be held in detention and risk torture, or he may have been kidnapped by an extremist group due to his work on blasphemy cases. Anis AA Saadi has regularly received death threats as a result of his work, his offices have been burnt out and he has also escaped assassination attempts.

In June 2008 Pakistani lawyers also staged nationwide demonstrations and during this movement Anis AA Saadi was arrested and detained in a prison in Lahore, then moved to a prison in Bahawalpur before finally being released on bail.

Front Line believes Parvez Aslam Choudhry and Anis AA Saadi have been targeted as a result of their human rights activities and their participation in the lawyers movement of Pakistan.

Front Line is concerned for their security and physical and psychological integrity, as well as that of their family members.