A human rights report released Monday harshly criticized
Pakistan's response to the coronavirus threat faced by tens of thousands of
inmates stuck in overcrowded and often unsanitary prisons.
A human rights
report released Monday harshly criticized Pakistan's response to the
coronavirus threat faced by tens of thousands of inmates stuck in overcrowded
and often unsanitary prisons.
Instead of
following through on promises to ease prison overcrowding made when the
pandemic first hit, Pakistan's
government has actually increased its inmate population by over 6,000 between
April and August, from 73,242 to 79,603. Some of the few who were freed were
later rearrested.
The joint report
by London-based Amnesty International and Justice Project Pakistan said inmates
face a growing risk of infection, and called for renewed efforts to free
certain prisoners, particularly the elderly, women and prisoners of conscience.
As Pakistan braves
the second wave of COVID-19,
prisoners remain dangerously exposed as the authorities not only failed to
reduce overcrowding, they actually worsened it, said Rimmel Mohydin, South Asia
regional campaigner for Amnesty International.
In the first weeks
of the outbreak in February, the Islamabad High Court ordered the release of
pretrial inmates charged with nonviolent crimes as well as those whose bail had
previously been denied. In the southern Sindh province, 519 prisoners were to
be released on bail. But in late March, the Supreme Court suspended all bail
orders that were granted because of the virus.
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