Rabia Mahmood, a human rights activist from Pakistan who has worked with several international human rights organizations spoke at the event against the detention of Professor Muhammad Ismail describing the physical and mental ordeal the Ismail family had went through in the past two years.

Gulalai Ismail, one of Pakistan’s boldest human rights defenders and a stalwart critic of Pakistan’s security services, succeeded in escaping an enormous dragnet and making it to the United States in 2019,  deeply humiliating the authorities who had been persecuting her.

Now  Pakistan has taken aim at her parents, accusing them of terrorism, and throwing her father, who was recovering from Covid-19, into jail.

On 2nd February,, a bail hearing ended with Mohammed Ismail, Ms. Ismail’s  65-year-old father, being led away in handcuffs. He faces charges of sedition and terrorism financing, which human rights defenders say are bogus and thinly veiled revenge against the family for embarrassing the state security services.

Professor Muhammad Ismail has been subsequently denied bail and facing judicial delays. On 2nd  March 2019, Gulalai Ismail organized an online protest against the  detention of her father bringing together more than 40 experts on Human  Rights from around the world. Rabia Mahmood, a human rights activist from Pakistan who has worked with several international human rights organisations spoke at the event describing the physical and mental ordeal the family had gone through in the past two years. 

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