Oct 8, 2009

We apologize for any errors. Given the opaque nature of Pakistan's security agencies, it is difficult to confirm information reported. We call on the Pakistani government to reveal where Ehsan Arjemandi is being held.

Update October7, 2009
Letter to Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs on behalf of Ehsan Arjemandi, by BHRC-Canada, Oct 7, 2009

Update October 5, 2009
Pakistan violates the UN Convention of Torture by extraditing Ehsan Arjemandi to Iran. Ehsan Arjemandi is being held in Zahedan, Iran. Pakistan's extradition of Mr. Arjemandi to Iran violates the Convention Against Torture to which Pakisan is a signatory. Article 3.1 states: "No State Party shall expel, return ("refouler") or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subject to torture." read the UN Convention Against Torture

Update October 4, 2009
(Corrections to this appeal to OHCHR a/o Oct 4, 2009: Ehsan Arjemandi was arrested by MI, not ISI as we initially believed. The person who arrested him was in Military Intelligence, Gwadar district. Also, Abdul Jalil Rais is not a lawyer but a relative of Ehsan. Still, no one has been able to file a FIR.)

Emne: Ehsan Arjemandi, Attention HRD team
Dato: 16. august 2009 11.10.28 GMT+02.00
Til: urgent-action@ohchr.org

I believe this case falls under the mandate of the OHCHR.

Norwegian citizen Ehsan Arjemandi born 30.06.1974 was abducted in Pakistan on the costal
highway between Karachi and Mand, going south, early morning on Friday 7. August 2009. The
Pakistani intelligence service, the ISI, is believed to be responsible for the abduction.

Arjemandi, who is living in Oslo, Norway, went to Pakistan a couple of weeks ago to visit relatives in
Turbat and Mand. He left Mand in the Balochistan province early morning Friday 7. August heading
for Karachi on an intercity bus titled 'Aslam Dandahi Coach'. The bus was intercepted by several (4
or 5) unidentified vehicles when it reached Zero point Coastal Highway near Uttal check post, about
12km away from Uttal city. According to the bus driver (interviewed on Norwegian national television
13 August) some of the men in the cars (about 15 altogether) carried police uniforms while others
were wearing civilian clothes. Some of the men in civilian clothes entered the bus, asked Arjemandi
to identify him self, searched him, covered his head with a blanket and took him away. He was
brought to a waiting pickup which left with Arjemandi followed by at least two other vehicles. The
number plate of the pickup was covered.

According to the Norwegian daily Aftenposten, a lawyer representing Arjemandi (Abdul Jalil Raisi)
tried to report the case to the police station in the Bagdadi district in Karachi. The police refused to
receive the report. The bus company is also reported to have tried to report the incident, but has
also been rejected by the police.

Ehsan Arjemandi was born in Iran in 1974. He became political active as a young teenager and was
imprisoned at the age of 14. He came to Norway in 1990 as a UN quota refugee after several years
as a refugee in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. He became a Norwegian citizen in 1996 (or 1997).
He is married and has 3 children (10, 6 and 3 years old).

Arjemandi has serious health problems and is in need of daily medications. Among other things he
is suffering from metabolism problems and has problems with his spinal column. He was exposed to
torture in Iranian prisons when he was 14 years old. This has strongly influenced his health.

Ehsan Arjemandi has in recent years been political active and an advocate for the human rights of
the Baloch people in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. He has been a member of the Greater
Balochistan Libration Organisation (GBLO). He has among other things arranged pro-Baloch
protests in Norway, and was interviewed on national television in connection with former Pakistani
president Pervez Musharraf's visit to Norway in January 2006.

On the basis of this information, the way he was abducted and his political activities, we believe he
has been abducted by the Pakistani intelligence agency, the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence). They
have been responsible for similar abduction in the area carried out in the same manner.

According to Amnesty International Norway about 600 persons engaged in political opposition has
been abducted by Pakistani authorities. Amnesty says that these people rarely turn up again.
Norwegian authorities (the Foreign ministry and the embassy in Islamabad) have asked Pakistani
authorities for an explanation of what has happened to Ehsan Arjemandi. A medical report
describing Arjemandi's health situation has been handed over to the Pakistani authorities. The
Norwegian foreign minister Jonas Gahr Støre has reportedly addressed the matter while meeting
the Pakistani Agricultural minister in Norway on Thursday this week. So far, Pakistani authorities
have given no response.

This information has been put together from different sources: Arjemandi's family, the Norwegian
embassy in Islamabad, different newspapers, Internet and television reports. Parts of the information
are given by some of Arjemandi's friends in Norway.

I am a close friend of Ehsan Arjemandi and have known him since 1994.
A copy of this e-mail is also sent to the Norwegian embassy in Islamabad and the foreign ministry in
Norway.

Yours sincerely,
Dr. Espen Gran