PM Abbasi to seek return of terminally-ill Pakistani prisoner from Indonesia
January 25, 2018
KARACHI: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will urge Indonesian President Joko Widodo to allow a terminally-ill Pakistani prisoner in Indonesia to spend his final days with his family, Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif confirmed on Thursday.
Speaking on Geo News show Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath, the foreign minister said Abbasi would request the Indonesian president to let the Pakistani prisoner, Zulfiqar Ali, complete his prison sentence in Pakistan on humanitarian grounds.
“The prime minister was already aware of the issue when I spoke to him,” Asif said. “He was hopeful that the Indonesian president would not refuse and would give a solution on humanitarian grounds.”
Widodo will be visiting Pakistan on January 26-27.
A father of five from Mughalpura area of Lahore, 53-year-old Ali has been languishing in an Indonesian prison for almost 14 years. He was arrested in 2004, charged with possession of 300 grams of heroin, and sentenced to death.
His lawyers say he is innocent and have alleged serious violations of due process at every stage of the trial and appeal process.
“After being detained for nearly 14 years for a wrongful conviction, Zulfiqar may die in prison while waiting to be executed,” said the Justice Project Pakistan, a human rights organisation providing legal counsel for vulnerable Pakistani prisoners.
Doctors have estimated Ali's life expectancy to be three months.
“His attending physician confirmed last month that Zulfiqar has been suffering from cancer in both lobes of the liver. He is also suffering from chronic liver cirrhosis and Diabetes Mellitus,” the JPP said in a press release.
Ali was scheduled to be executed in July 2016, but received a last-minute reprieve after diplomatic intervention by the Pakistani government and pressure from human rights groups. But he remains on death row.
Rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have expressed serious concerns about Ali's conviction, alleging it arose out of beatings and torture and he did not have a fair trial.
"During his trial he described this torture, but the judges allowed the 'confession' to be admitted as evidence. There has been no independent investigation into his allegations," Amnesty had said.
"Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi should urge President Jokowi to commute Zulfiqar Ali’s sentence and release him on medical grounds so he can spend his last days with his family," said Saroop Ijaz, HRW's country representative in Pakistan.
