Shafqat Hussain was sentenced to death by an Anti-Terrorism Court in November 2004 for alleged kidnapping and murder, on the basis of a confession extracted after 9 days of torture in police custody. Shafqat also described that one of his co-workers, a guard at the building where Shafqat worked as a caretaker, was also arrested alongside him and was tortured by the police, but was eventually released after his family bribed the police officers. Since Shafqat was a juvenile and his family was based in another province, he was more susceptible to abuse. Recognizing that the case against Shafqat could not stand, the Sindh High Court threw out his murder conviction and held that the most it could show was guilt of a botched kidnapping in which death was accidental. Yet, the Court did not strike down the associated ‘terrorism’ charge of kidnapping, which had been tenuously justified on the basis that the crime “created a sense of terror in the wider community”. Shafqat was executed in August, 2015 despite a report by the Sindh Human Rights Commission (SHRC), a statutory body, requesting the Supreme Court of Pakistan to initiate an inquiry into evidence pertaining to his juvenility and torture. “I was forced to strip in front of my detained sons and on the next day my feet were beaten with bamboo cane till they were swollen and after that I was forced to do push-ups and when I lost consciousness, I was thrown into the cell. On same night I was brought out of the cell and beaten till my hips bled. Marks of those wounds still exists. During the remaining days of remand the police applied rullas54 over my thighs due to which I can’t walk properly till today.” – Sharif Baksh, 70-year-old prisoner on death row for the last 12 years (iv) EXTRAORDINARY POLICE POWERS AND SUSPENSION OF FUNDAMENTAL SAFEGUARDS The Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 provides law-enforcement agencies, including police, with enhanced powers and extended discretion that pose a direct threat to long-standing rights to privacy, security, due process, fair trial and protection from torture enshrined under the Constitution of Pakistan and international human rights law under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the UN Convention Against Torture. In a country where the police faces widespread allegations regarding arbitrary and discriminatory abuse of power, the existence of the counter-terrorism regime under the ATA has led to grave violations of key safeguards. 54 While the victim lies down, a roola or thick bamboo stick is placed on top of him. The perpetrators stand on both ends of the stick to weigh it down and roll it over the victim’s body. The pressure from the bamboo stick causes extreme pain and crushes the victim. TRIAL AND TERROR 17