Justice Javed Iqbal chairing the three-member bench of the Supreme Court ordered Interior Ministry to submit affidavits about the 56 missing people who were traced by the ministry last week. The affidavits must include details regarding the date and place of abduction; duration and place of detention; and charges levelled against recovered people. These 56 are out of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan's list of 136 missing Pakistanis.
I wonder how the ministry would comply with this court orders for Saud Memon, a 44 years old textile merchant of Karachi, and father of five kids. His shrunken and shriveled body, weighing only 40 pounds, was dumped near his house by the intelligence agencies on April 28, 2007, after confining him for 4 years, 1 month and 21 days.
On court orders he was produced in the Supreme Court on May 14, 2007. He was unable to walk so he was brought in on a wheelchair by his brother, Mahmood Memon.
He was unable to speak or hold his head so his brother spoke for him and pleaded with justices that Saud's name should be removed from the ‘Red Book’ compiled by the Interior Ministry, which contains the names the people wanted by the government. The head money set for Saud is Rs 3 million. Justice Javed Iqbal ordered: “Saud Memon should not be arrested without approval of this court.”
He had lost all his memory as a result of torture at the hands of intelligence agencies. The court was shocked and alarmed to see his condition and ordered the newly appointed Deputy Attorney General Barrister Tariq Khokhar to have him treated at Agha Khan Hospital and his medical report presented to the court.
But Saud Memon died on Friday, May 18 at the Liaquat National Hospital in Karachi. Hospital authorities said he died of tuberculosis and meningitis. His family claims he was poisoned while in detention.
He went missing on March 7, 2003. He was arrested from South Africa by FBI, kept at Guantanamo Bay until 2006 when he was handed over to Pakistani agencies. The family heard about his alleged detention last year through a man who was released by the same agency sometime ago. According to Amina Masood Janjua, it was confirmed by three other persons released from ISI’s detention that Saud Memon was with them in ISI custody.
Saud owned the shed and land in Ahsanabad, Gadap Town, Karachi, where body of Daniel Pearl, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, was found in a shallow grave on May 17, 2002 after his kidnapping and beheading in January 2002. Pakistani authorities said at the time they wanted to question Mr Memon but that they could not find him. They never acknowledged his detention either. But earlier this month when Supreme Court, which is investigating "disappearances" of terror suspects, started asking questions about his disappearance and agencies possible involvement in it, he was dumped near his house.
His family denies he had anything to do with the murder. British-born Ahmed Omar Sheikh was sentenced to death for the murder of Daniel Pearl, while three other men were given life imprisonment. In March, alleged al-Qaeda mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confessed to personally beheading Pearl, according to an incomplete Pentagon transcript of his testimony at a military tribunal.
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