According to a message received from LADS, on 12 november 2008 after accepting the appeal of medi Hassann Parvez Aslam Choudhry Advocate, Chairman LADS , received three life threats calls from unknown callers. Firstly on 12 at about 12 at night. Later on 13 November 2008 at about 10-30 am and then 14 November 2008 at 4-15 pm . Callers continously said that Parvez Aslam Choudhry was a blasphemr and now he ans his family will be kill.

They said that all other blasphemrs will also be killed. Said that Parvez Aslam Choudhry was in their hit lists and now he will not be save. As usual and now more his car is chased and some time Parvez Aslam Choudhry  feels that his car may be hit or crashed . Some tome i feel that i may shot from other side as refrence of past you know very well.

 IDHAE is concerned with Parvez Aslam Choudhry's  life safety to continue human rights work of ordeal persons in Pakistan

On 25 April 2008, at approximately 12:15am, the car in which Parvez Aslam Choudhry, Aslam Masih, Ijaz Victor and Mubarak Masih were travelling was hit from behind and from the right-hand side by a red van. The back windscreen was broken, the bumper was damaged and there were minor injuries to all passengers. The members of LADS were on their way to Nasirabad police station to make an enquiry regarding a complaint they had filed on behalf of a client.

Biography : Parvez Aslam Choudhry, is the chairman of a Lahore-based legal group : the NGO "Legal Aid for Destitute and Settlement" (LADS), which provides legal assistance to impoverished detainees and works against discriminatory laws in Pakistan, Parvez Aslam Choudhry is a Member High Court Bar Association and Member Lahore Bar Association in Pakistan, and former president Christian Lawyers Association Pakistan (CLAP).

Parvez Aslam Choudhry has defended many blasphemy accused in the High Court Pakistan, both Muslim and non-Muslim, and has been attacked on several occasions. He has been in danger before because of his work against the blasphemy laws. In 2003 he was assaulted while defending a blasphemy case. He filed a complaint with the police, but says they took no action. He received frequent death threats while defending blasphemy case against one Younis Masih, a Christian who was allegedly charged with flinging a burning matchstick on November 12, 2005 in the Quran Mahal, a Islamic school situated in the Sangla Hill stadium which caught fire and is at risk of being sentenced to death.

Since the trial of Younis Masih began, he has been threatened outside the court and has also received anonymous telephone death threats, warning him that his life will be in danger if he continues to represent Younis Masih. Members of his family have also received threats during the trial of Younis Masih.

Younis Masih is alleged to have made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Mohammed at a religious service held at a house near his own on 9 September 2005, in the Chunngi Amar Sadu area of Lahore. He denies this, and a local newspaper quoted his wife as saying that he was attacked after he went to the house at around midnight and asked the people inside not to sing so loudly, as he was in mourning for his nephew, who had recently died. According to the local press, the next day local Muslims looted a number of Christian homes, and witnesses said that the police did not intervene.

The Muslim cleric who had led the service filed a complaint against Younis Masih accusing him of offences under Section 295C of the Pakistan penal code, which deals with blasphemy. According to his lawyer he is not facing any other charges. He was arrested on 11 September and taken to Kot Lakhpat jail, in Lahore, where he is still held. A first bail petition was rejected by the sessions court in Lahore in November and a second petition is now pending in the Lahore High Court.

Masih always denied involvement in the desecration of the Quran, regarded by Muslims as a holy book of Islam.

Parvez Aslam Choudhry has received numerous anonymous telephone calls, and has been physically assaulted outside the court. On 26 January on his way to the jail where he hoped to visit Younis Masih, a van drove into his car causing him minor injuries. Some of the men in the van got out and began to attack him as he sat in the car, but got back in the van and drove off when friends of Parvez Choudhry approached.

On 11 May 2006, unknown assailants deliberately rammed their car into Parvez Aslam Choudhry’s car, which then was pushed off the road and fell forty feet. One passenger, lawyer Rana Javed Rafiq, died instantly. Parvez Aslam Choudhry and his colleague Ijaz Victor were hospitalized for a number of days after the incident. On two occasions in February and July 2006, Parvez Aslam Choudhry was threatened at gun point by Muslim men who warned that his life was in danger if he continued to represent blasphemy cases.
The judge in the case ordered the Punjab police to provide Choudhry with protection, but he has stated that this order has not been implemented.

On 6 April 2008, before the hearing in the blasphemy case of Mumtaz Bibi and Riaz Masih in the court, Parvez Aslam Choudhry was attacked by a large mob when he arrived at court for the bail hearing. The miror of the car was broken and car was damged also and the mob threatened to kill him. On 8 April 2008, at approximately 12.00 midnight, Parvez Aslam Choudhry received an anonymous telephone call threatening both him and his family. He was reportedly told he was to be killed because he was a Christian lawyer defending a Christian person accused of blasphemy. Similar threats were also made against him inside the court by witnesses.

In 2003, Parvez Aslam Choudhry has been awarded the Bishop John Joseph Award by Pakistan Minorities Front for his outstanding work in defending the rights of minorities at considerable personal risk. On 17 April 2006, the Lahore Bar Asscociation (LBA) has nominated Parvez Aslam choudhry as "Chairman Jail Reforms Comittee of LBA for year 2006 to 2007. This is first time in the history of LBA that one Christian lawyer is being appointed as chairman of any any comittee of Bar.

Please take action on behalf of Pakistani human rights defenders in Legal Aid for the Destitute and Settlement (LADS).

PLEASE URGE THE AUTHORITIES IN PAKISTAN TO:

1.  Guarantee the security and physical and psychological integrity of Parvez Aslam Choudhry  and ll members of LADS, as well as that of their family members;

2. Ensure that all human rights defenders in Pakistan, including lawyers, carrying out their legitimate work in the defence of human rights, are able to operate free of restrictions and reprisals.

I respectfully remind you that the United Nations Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, adopted by consensus by the UN General Assembly on 9 December 1998, recognises the legitimacy of the activities of human rights defenders, their right to freedom of association and to carry out their activities without fear of reprisals.

I would particularly draw your attention to Article 9 (1): ”In the exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms including the promotion and protection of human rights as referred to in the present Declaration, everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to benefit from an effective remedy and to be protected in the event of the violation of those rights”, to Article 11: “Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to the lawful exercise of his or her occupation or profession (...),” and to Article 12 (2): “The State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threat, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration.”

COPY THE ENCLOSED LETTER AND SEND IT TO THE ADDRESS PROVIDED.

Target adresses: 

S E Asif Ali Zardari
Office of the President
Aiwan-e-Sadr
Islamabad
Pakistan

LETTER : 

TAKE ACTION NOW !.