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The Associated Press reported on February 2, 2010 that the five Northern Virginia youth arrested in Pakistan in early December on suspicions of planning to “wage jihad” allege they are being tortured by both Pakistani police and FBI agents.
In the report by AP writer Nabil Yousaf, the five young men – ranging in ages from 18 to 24 and all US citizens – claimed they are being subjected to electric shocks and “other torture”. Pakistan is holding the men in a jail in Sargodha.
The men “tossed a tissue with some of the allegations scribbled on it to reporters as they headed to their latest hearing in court” said the AP report, adding the judge “delayed formally charging the suspects for at least two more weeks.”
Defense lawyer Tariq Asad said one of the youth, Ramy Zamzam, told the judge the police gave them electric shocks and “warned them not to mention the alleged torture to the media or court”. Zamzam, who is well known in the Northern Virginia Muslim community and who was very involved in Islamic community work, also said police “threatened to destroy their passports and their lives.”
US and Pakistani officials deny the torture allegations, but human rights groups in the US and Pakistan say prisoner abuse is common in Pakistan. The US “war on terror” has been plagued by prisoner abuse scandals – some involving US soldiers murdering detainees – which have severely undermined US efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and strained relations with Pakistan and other nations.
The five youth traveled to Pakistan to connect with “helpless Muslims” and to “wage jihad”. Zamzam told reporters earlier: “We are not terrorists. We are jihadists, and jihad is not terrorism.” When parents discovered a “farewell” video from one of the men, they contacted the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Washington DC. CAIR alerted the FBI and arranged for the families to meet with FBI agents.
Police accuse the youth of intending to commit “terrorist attacks” and of trying to join “militant” groups in the region, including those fighting the US occupation of Afghanistan. Some human rights activists in Pakistan say the youth should be freed because while terrorism is a crime, jihad – fighting an occupying army – is not.
AP also said prosecutor Nadeem Akram said the police are seeking permission from the federal Interior Ministry to press specific charges against the men, such as “trying to declare war against a country that is not at war with Pakistan” — an apparent reference to Afghanistan.
The court ordered a panel of three or five doctors to carry out a detailed medical examination of the men after they said they were not satisfied with an earlier exam. According to AP, that exam was ordered during the last hearing after the men alleged torture by Pakistani police. “They told the court that the prison doctor just checked their blood pressure and did some other preliminary examination,” Akram said.
Khalid Khwaja, a rights activist who often advocates for detained militant suspects, gave reporters a copy of a letter he said Zamzam had written to his parents. In it, Zamzam repeats the torture allegation and urges his parents to keep praying and trying to contact the suspects. Zamzam is a 22-year-old who was a dental student at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
Snelsire could not immediately confirm Khwaja’s assertion that the message had been given to the U.S. Embassy to pass on to the parents.
In their last hearing in mid-January, police submitted a charge sheet and evidence to the court in which the men are accused of violating several sections of Pakistan’s penal code and anti-terrorism law. The most serious charge is conspiracy to carry out a terrorist act, which could carry life imprisonment depending on what the act is.
Prosecutors are still mulling whether the case is strong enough to charge the men and bring them to trial.
The men’s next hearing for the main case is set for Feb. 16, though a bail hearing may be held Feb. 8, said the AP report.
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