Pakistan: Medical concern: Cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment: use of fetters

Thousands of prisoners in Pakistan are kept in fetters (or leg irons), many for 24 hours a day. In some cases, the fettering, combined with ill-treatment and isolation the prisoners are subjected to, amounts to torture. Access to medical care in prisons can be very limited. Pakistani law allows for the use of fetters in particular, defined circumstances. However, fetters are frequently applied not only in breach of Pakistani law and international standards but also as a means of extorting bribes and intimidating or humiliating prisoners. AI is calling for an end to their use.

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