Pakistan: Harassment against WHRD Gulalai Ismail and her relatives
Event- Country
- Pakistan
- Initial Date
- Apr 7, 2019
- Event Description
Gulalai Ismail is an award-winning woman human rights defender and co-founder of Aware Girls who has been forced into hiding following at least two First Information Reports (FIRs) being filed against her on 22 May and 23 May by police in Islamabad. On 4 July, the family home was raided three times, by a large number of armed men in both plainclothes and police uniform. On the first two occasions, only Gulalai's parents were at home. However, at around 4 pm, the police raided the house for the third time and questioned Gulalai's brother and family driver who had arrived home a few minutes earlier. Gulalai's brother, a US citizen, had returned to Pakistan a few days prior to the raid in order to support his parents and family, who have been under tremendous pressure and fear for their safety. The police and intelligence officers questioned Gulalai's brother and arbitrarily detained the family driver who was held at an unknown location for around 8 hours before being released. The family believes that the driver was targeted and tortured due to his association with Gualali.
- Impact of Event
- 5
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Intimidation and Threats
- Raid
- Torture
- Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- Right to privacy
- HRD
- Family of HRD
- WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Event Location
Latitude: 30.375320000000013
Longitude: 69.345116
- Event Location
- Summary for Publications
On 4 July 2019, Gulalai Ismail, an award-winning woman human rights defender and co-founder of Aware Girls who has been forced into hiding following at least two First Information Reports (FIRs) being filed against her on 22 May and 23 May by police in Islamabad, had her home raided three times, with her relatives and driver being subject to intimidation, harassment and violence.