05/08/2019 Pakistan (International Christian Concern) – According to reports received by International Christian Concern (ICC), Chand Hameed, a Christian currently awaiting trial in the Central Jail of Kot Lakhpat in Lahore, was denied proper medical treatment by prison authorities. The denial of treatment resulted in the Christian prisoner being unable to move his legs.

Advocate Asad Jamal, Hameed’s defense lawyer, told ICC that Hameed complained to jail authorities about severe stomach pains last Tuesday, April 30. According to Advocate Jamal, the medical doctor posted to the Central Jail refused to touch Hameed and ordered a non-medical prison staffer to inject Hameed with an unspecified painkiller.

This injection resulted in Hameed loosing feeling and the ability to move his legs. It also caused Hameed to be unable to appear before the court in the days that followed the incident.

Hameed is one of 40 Christians charged with lynching two Muslims in the riots that following the suicide bombings of two churches in Lahore in March 2015. Hameed and the other Christians are currently on trial in Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Court.

Relatives of these Christian prisoners have regularly complained of poor prison conditions and other abuses being metered out against their relatives as they await trial.

Speaking to ICC, Advocate Jamal said, “It is sad to note that two other prisoners in the same case have died under mysterious circumstances, reportedly due to ill treatment at the hands of jail authorities. In an application to the Special Secretary of Prisons, the council of these prisoners stated that he suspected that the deceased prisoners had been tortured.”

According to Advocate Jamal, both deceased prisoners, Inderiyas Masih and Adnan Masih, were not provided with proper medical care following the torture they endured at the hands of jail authorities. This lack of medical care ultimately resulted in their deaths.

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