“I have struggled for his release by arranging protest camps and press conferences. I have also filed a habeas corpus petition in the court in an attempt to use all available legal options. I will continue my struggle in future until I get news of my brother”, says 24 years old Hameeda, the eldest sister of Sagheer Ahmed, in a video she sent to the Human Rights Council of Balochistan (HRCB).
Security forces abducted Sagheer Ahmed, a 22 years old student from the Karachi University on 20 November, 2017. The family has not been provided with any information regarding the charges nor about his whereabouts and wellbeing. Although the state is bound to produce the victim in a court of law within 24 hours of arrest, there is no news of Sagheer Ahmed even after 70 days of his abduction.
Hameeda Qadir has been struggling to trace her brother since October 2017. She submitted a communication to UN’s working group on enforced or involuntary disappearances on 20 November with the help of the HRCB. She registered an FIR (First Information Report) against the perpetrators at a police station in Karachi on 7 December 2018 with the help of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). She filed a habeas corpus petition in the Sindh High Court on 8 January 2018.
She has spoken to the media time and again, appealing that her brother be produced in a court of law if he is alleged for involvement in any criminal or illegal act. The HRCP has expressed concern over the incident and has appealed for Sagheer Ahmed’s release.
“We have tried the local judicial system. The police had been refusing to file a case for more than two weeks. We have sent our plea to the UN’s working group fulfilling all the requirements of their mechanism. What else could we do? We just want to know that what is the crime of my brother and how is he, alive or not,” she says.
