Amanatullah Ali

Mr. Amanatullah has been held beyond the rule of law for over five years in Bagram Prison.

The father of five comes from Ghabyanwal, a remote village in Pakistan’s Punjab. Amanatullah had been working as a rice merchant since 2002, a business he had started when his brother, Zulfiqar loaned him some money. He made frequent trips to Iran which is a major importing country because of a high level of consumption and a low level of domestic production.

In February 2004, Amanatullah made another business trip to Iran. Since he belongs to the Shia sect of Islam and it was the holy month of Muharram, Amanatullah decided to continue west into Iraq for a pilgrimage at what is considered to be one of the holiest shrines in Kabala. A visit to the holy shrines in Karbala and Najaf in Iraq is a dream for all practising Shia Muslims. In spite of the United States invasion of Iraq in 2003, Shia Muslims from all over the world, including Pakistan, continue to go to Iraq for their annual pilgrimage.

His family said he ‘disappeared’ in Iraq in February 2004 and they did not hear from him till a year later in 2005 when they received a letter through the International Committee of the Red Cross. The family learnt that Amanatullah had been picked up by the British, shot in the foot and rendered to Bagram.

It had been claimed by the British Government that Mr. Amanatullah was a member of Lashkar e Tayyiba. LeT is a Sunni extremists group that views all Shia as heretics, and is currently conducting a violent campaign in Punjab to dispossess Shia Landlord lords such as Mr. Amanatullah. The notion that Mr. Amanatullah a Shia was a member of LeT becomes effectively impossible – as LeT is a Sunni extremist group that views Shia as apostate.

Through Amanatullah’s very limited contact with his family through the ICRC, he has asked them to engage a lawyer or NGO to help secure his release. He has told his brother that he is being held in Bagram because of his work as a merchant.

Amanatullah claims he is innocent and is anxious for a lawyer to represent him. Nobody in Amanatullah’s family was aware of an organization such as Reprieve that is helping prisoners who have been denied justice in the name of the “war on terror”.

The British Government has admitted its complicity in a crime (kidnapping, otherwise called rendition), admitted it was wrong, and appeared to have apologised. The government bears responsibility towards Mr. Amantullah. The Government should be making strong and urgent representation on his behalf in relation to the conditions he is being held in, and his due process rights.

It is deeply disturbing that the MoD could apologize for our country’s involvement in this wrongdoing, and yet refuse to assist to put matters right. Reprieve wishes to work with the Government to right this wrong, and to ensure that Britain intervenes to assist in delivering justice which has for so long been denied to Mr. Amanatullah.

Terry Waite, British victim of kidnap:
"The British government worked for my freedom when I was held captive for 1763 days, and I am glad and grateful for it. But if Amanatullah is as innocent as he seems to be, and if he has been held without any legal rights for more than 2000 days thanks to a mistake made by the British, then it would seem that the moral obligation on the British government has an even greater obligation to help right that wrong."