n the United States, Ron Ridenour, a former head of the Committee United for Political Prisoners, writes that political prisoners are generally people who have not harmed anyone; rather it is just that their views clash with those of the government. Many political workers are imprisoned simply because they demand their political rights. In most such examples, the deprivation of political prisoners’ rights begins the moment they are arrested.

For the Pakistan Peoples Party, the subject stirs more than just bad memories. It is said that under General Zia, lists of party members were obtained from PPP offices. Those whose names appeared on these lists were targeted with state repression. Let us take a brief look at the violations of their rights as political prisoners.

Many PPP leaders and workers were arrested and detained without being produced before a court. Many of the detained workers were tortured. Muhammad Riaz, a PPP worker from Lahore, who was held at the Lahore Fort, recalls the torture. He says he and several companions were put on blocks of ice. Many were laid face down on the floor and beaten with sticks.

Another method of torture was to make prisoners stand while clamps were put on them to disallow movement in any direction.

Chaudhry Mehtab, a PPP member from Sargodha, says that he and his companions were arrested for rallying in favour of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Many of them were tied to a grating in the town square and publicly flogged.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s prosecution and conviction on charges of murder is regarded by many as the foremost among politically motivated cases. Many of Bhutto’s opponents agree that his execution was a political decision. Many consider him a martyr.

In her book Daughter of the East, Benazir Bhutto describes the conditions of her father’s imprisonment as well as her own. The day before Bhutto’s execution, when Benazir and her mother Nusrat Bhutto were brought for a final meeting, Bhutto asked the jailer how long would the meeting last. He replied that it would be half an hour. Bhutto protested that under jail rules, the meeting time should last an hour. The jailer replied that his orders were clear.

At that time, Benazir and her mother were detained at the Police Training Camp at Sihala. She writes that on the night of April 4, when her father was to be hanged early in the morning, they waited so they could leave with the body of her father for the last rites. When the jailer knocked on the door in the morning, Benazir told him that both of them were ready to depart with the body. The jailer replied that Bhutto’s body had already been taken away for burial. Benazir was left stunned.

In March 2024, while announcing the decision on the presidential reference filed by Asif Ali Zardari, the Supreme Court said that the trial of Bhutto’s case had been unfair. The court’s decision was widely celebrated by PPP workers.

In 1977, Benazir was detained simply because she was the daughter of the deposed prime minister. She was later detained for several years. In Sukkur Jail, she was held in a particularly harsh environment.

Even under elected governments, violations of rights of political prisoners was far from rare. In November, 2025, at an event organised by the Shaheed Bhutto Foundation, Senator Aitezaz Ahsan revealed that during imprisonment, electric shocks were applied to Asif Ali Zardari’s tongue. When the court issued orders for Zardari’s release on bail on medical grounds, he was not released. In August 1999, judicial investigations revealed that the injuries Zardari sustained on May 19, 1999, while in the custody of the Central Investigation Agency, were not self-inflicted as alleged by the administration.

The order under which Zardari was taken out of judicial custody and placed in the custody of the CIA was found illegal by the Sindh High Court. Instead of prosecuting those who had tortured him, Zardari was accused of attempting suicide and self-harm.

In democratic states, prisoners have the right to seek legal remedy, and are given access to lawyers and courts. Justice demands that the proceedings of the cases against them be impartial, and the treatment they receive be in accordance with universal human rights requirements. Protection from cruel treatment is among the fundamental rights of prisoners. Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights prohibits torture. Under Article 14, Clause 2 of Pakistan’s constitution, inflicting torture on prisoners is also illegal.

The writer has a PhD in politics and international relations. He is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Sargodha.