PUBLIC AI Index: ASA 33/010/2008

12 March 2008

UA 69/08 Imminent Execution

PAKISTAN Manjit Singh (m), Indian national

A man who the Pakistani authorities believe to be Manjit Singh, but whose family claims is the victim of mistaken identity, is at risk of imminent execution after President Pervez Musharraf rejected his petition for mercy on 5 March 2008. He is held in the Kot Lakhpat Prison in Lahore.

He was arrested as Manjit Singh in 1990 on charges of having worked for Indian intelligence, but was convicted and sentenced in 1991 for alleged involvement with four bomb attacks in Lahore and Faisalabad that killed 14 people in 1990. An appeal to the Supreme Court of Pakistan to have his sentence overturned failed in 2006.

His family have claimed since his arrest that that he is not Manjit Singh, but Sarabjit Singh, an Indian farmer who accidentally strayed into Pakistani territory whilst working.

BACKGROUND

The de facto border separating India and Pakistan, or the Line of Control (LoC), has for over half a century been at the centre of military confrontations between both sides for territorial claims to Kashmir with major wars being fought in 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999. The last Indo-Pakistan War took place in May 1999 at Kargil in the Kashmir valley.

For decades, hundreds of Indian and Pakistani soldiers and civilians have been imprisoned by both sides for straying over the LoC or detained on charges of spying. Many have been sentenced to death. The exact whereabouts and numbers of these prisoners remain difficult to ascertain as little public information is made available. They include traders, farmers and fishermen and soldiers detained as “prisoners of war”.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases. The death penalty is a symptom of a culture of violence, and not a solution to it. It has not been shown to have any greater deterrent effect than other punishments, is often imposed after unfair trials and is known to have been carried out on the innocent. The death penalty is the ultimate form of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, and a violation of the right to life, as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English or your own language:

- calling on the President to use his powers under Article 45 of the Constitution to commute the death sentence handed down to the man the Pakistani authorities believe to be Manjit Singh;

- calling on the authorities to independently verify the identity of the person with the relevant authorities;

- calling for an immediate moratorium on all executions in the country, in line with the worldwide trends to abolish the death penalty with a view to an eventual abolition of the death penalty.

APPEALS TO:

President Pervez Musharraf

Pakistan Secretariat, Islamabad, Pakistan

Fax: +92 51 922 1422, 4768/ 920 1893 or 1835

Email: http://www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk

Salutation: Dear President Musharraf

Mr Hamid Nawaz

Minister for the Interior

Ministry for the Interior

Room 404, 4th Floor, Block R, Federal Secretariat

Islamabad, Pakistan

Fax: +92 51 9202624

E-mail: minister@interior.gov.pk

secretary@interior.gov

Salutation: Dear Minister

Mr Syed Afzal Haider

Minister of Law, Justice and Human Rights

Room 305, S-Block, Pakistan Secretariat

Islamabad, Pakistan

Fax: +92 51 9202628

Salutation: Dear Minister

COPIES TO: diplomatic representatives of India/Pakistan accredited to your country.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.