Protestors Demand Release of 14 Political Prisoners of Gilgit-Baltistan
Reported by Haider Ali
LAHORE: A protest demonstration was held at Lahore Press Club on Sunday 19 January, 2020 to demand freedom for 14 political prisoners of Gilgit-Baltistan, sentenced to life imprisonment in the Hunza Riots Case of 2011. The organizers, Free Baba Jan Committee, said that the protest demonstrations will be held every two weeks.
The protesters demanded the release of Awami Workers Party’s leader, Baba Jan, Kararkoram National Movement’s Iftikhar Hussain and 12 other political prisoners who have been sentenced to life imprisonment.
The verdict was given by an Anti-Terrorism Court back in 2016 but the prisoners have been behind bars since 2011. The protesters declared that the charges against the political prisoners are trumped-up. They said that the crime of Comrade Baba Jan and other activists, now behind bars, was only that of raising voice for the community of GB including the affected families of Attabad Disaster.
In the 9 years of incarceration they have been subjected to physical and psychological torture on several occasions. Their rights as prisoners have been denied to them consistently.
