(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called for the immediate transfer to hospital of Rehmat Shah Afridi, former editor of the Punjab daily papers “Frontier Post” and “Maidan”, who is in jail awaiting execution. The organisation urged Punjab Provincial Governor Khalid Maqbool to ensure proper medical care for the journalist, who has been denied medical attention for […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called for the immediate transfer to hospital of Rehmat Shah Afridi, former editor of the Punjab daily papers “Frontier Post” and “Maidan”, who is in jail awaiting execution.
The organisation urged Punjab Provincial Governor Khalid Maqbool to ensure proper medical care for the journalist, who has been denied medical attention for his serious heart condition and has reportedly lost a great deal of weight. RSF reiterated that his death sentence for alleged possession and trafficking of drugs was a trumped-up charge aimed at silencing the two newspapers.
Afridi, who is appealing the sentence, was arrested on 2 April 1999, and on 27 June 2001 sentenced to be hanged. He says he was convicted as an act of revenge by the country’s Anti-Narcotics Force, which is funded by the United States government. The two papers had frequently exposed corruption, drug trafficking and illegal arms sales.
After his arrest, Afridi was tortured and sent to death row in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat prison. According to Amnesty International, the journalist has lost a great deal of weight and suffers from back problems. Until recently, he did not have a mattress in his cell, where he is detained around the clock.
Family and friends recently asked the Punjabi home affairs minister to allow him to receive appropriate medical treatment. The minister said he would be sent to a hospital specialising in cardiology, but this has not yet occurred.
