Five American Men Complain Of Torture

Five Muslim-American men from northern Virginia who were arrested by Pakistani authorities for their alleged links to extremist groups, today shouted to the media outside a court in Eastern Pakistan that they are being tortured in custody.

Pakistani authorities immediately denied the charges and Examiner that these American men did not complain of torture or abuse in court.

These five US citizens were arrested in a raid in the city of Sargodha in Punjab province on December 9, 2009 and they face lengthy jail terms if found guilty. They have pleaded not guilty.

These arrests were the result of exemplary services of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) who sought the attention of U.S. law-enforcement authorities when family members informed CAIR of the young men’s disappearance and that they had left behind ‘disturbing farewell’ video. CAIR and other Muslim community organizations have been working closely with the US law enforcement agencies to mitigate terrorist threats.

CAIR, a Muslim civil rights group claims arrests in Pakistan are the result of that cooperation. Journalists and public were not allowed to attend Monday’s hearing, at which the men were remanded in custody until 2 February.

Police said they had submitted an interrogation report running to about 250 pages. The next hearing was set for 2 February. At the first remand hearing, on 4 January, police said they planned to press for life sentences for the men.

There have been conflicting reports about the possible deportation. Interior Minister Rehman Malik told media last month in Islamabad that his country will not deport suspects until security agencies verify that they had not violated local laws.

But Punjab province Home Minister Rana Sanaullah told journalists in Lahore, the provincial capital where these individuals were arrested that “the next step for these men is to be deported to their home country, America.”

Media reports suggest Pakistan will accept U.S. requests to deport Americans arrested this week on suspicion of seeking training as jihadist guerrillas. Five of the men, age 19 to 25, are friends from the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., Pakistani officials say. The sixth, Khalid Farooq, is the father of one of them, Umer Farooq, 25, according to police in Sargodha, the city in Punjab where they were arrested Dec. 9.