Here are details of the protest:
Protesters at Baloch terror trial
Drop all charges against Marri and Baluch
Stop abusing the anti-terror laws
Human rights campaigners are not terrorists
On Monday 1 December, the Baloch 'terrorism' trial
resumed in London.
Friends and supporters of Hyrbyair Marri and Faiz Baluch
staged a
protest outside the court, calling for the trial to be
halted and the
charges dropped.
Although the police and court officials were somewhat
aggressive,
forcing the protesters to leave the court grounds, the
supporters of
the defendants made their point and were seen by all
court staff and
by everyone who came to the court and who passed by it.
The Balochistan human rights campaigners Hyrbyair Marri
and Faiz
Baluch are being prosecuted on terrorism charges, which
are widely
believed to have been concocted by Pakistani
intelligence.
Monday's protest was supported by Baloch and Sindhi
rights campaigners
from Pakistan and by members of CAMPACC, the UK Campaign
Against
Criminalising Communities, which opposes abuses of the
anti-terror
laws.
Mr Marri and Mr Baluch are represented in court by two
of the UK's
leading human rights barristers, Henry Blaxland QC and
Dame Helena
Kennedy QC.
Mr Marri is a former MP and government minister in the
regional
assembly of Balochistan – a previously independent state,
which was
invaded and annexed by Pakistan in 1948, and which has
ever since been
under illegal Pakistani military occupation. Mr Baluch
is his campaign
assistant.
"The Pakistan High Commissioner, speaking on behalf of
the new
democratic government of Pakistan, says his government
wants
reconciliation in Baluchistan and opposes the
prosecution, effectively
calling for the charges to be dropped," says human
rights campaigner
Peter Tatchell, who helped coordinate Monday's protest.
"Previously, the acting Interior Minister of Pakistan,
Rehman Malik,
announced that terror charges against Mr Marri in
Pakistan have been
cancelled; stating that the case against him had been
politically
motivated by the Musharraf dictatorship. This discredits
the whole
basis on which Marri and Baluch have been charged in
London.
"The trial is another abuse of the anti-terror laws,
whereby
legitimate human rights campaigners end up on trial.
"It appears that the UK government has been blackmailed
into arresting
these men and harassing other Baloch exiles and refugees.
It is
reported that Pakistan's military and intelligence
services have
threatened to end all cooperation with the UK government
in the "war
on terror" unless critics of its war in Balochistan are
silenced and
jailed. That is probably why Marri and Baluch are on
trial.
"The UK authorities seem to have decided these men are
expendable for
the sake of the 'greater good' of tackling terrorism by
maintaining
close relations with the Pakistani military and
intelligence services.
"Marri and Baluch have campaigned for self-determination
for
Balochistan and helped expose Pakistan's annexation and
oppression of
the Baloch nation. They are defending their people
against military
oppression and economic exploitation. Pakistani military
chiefs want
them prosecuted because they have been such effective
campaigners,
exposing to the world Islamabad's tyranny in Balochistan.
"For nine years, the UK's Labour government aided and
abetted the
illegal dictatorship of Pervez Musharraf, selling him
military
equipment that was used to prosecute Pakistan's illegal
war in
Balochistan – a war that has involved the perpetration
of war crimes
and crimes against humanity and which has been strongly
condemned by
international human rights groups," said Mr Tatchell.
Further information: Peter Tatchell – 020 7403 1790
Peter Tatchell is the Green Party parliamentary
candidate for Oxford East
www.greenoxford.com/peter and www.petertatchell.net
PETER TATCHELL HUMAN RIGHTS FUND
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