Saud Memon
Encyclopedia
Saud Memon was a Pakistan
i businessman from Karachi
dealing in yarn and textiles. Memon was said to own the shed where American
journalist Daniel Pearl
was killed. Memon was wanted by law-enforcement agencies in the Pearl case for supposedly providing the place where Pearl was beheaded and subsequently buried. However, Memon was never formally charged.
In April 2005 it was reported that Memon was one of the trustees of Al-Akhtar Trust International, a charity, the United States Treasury asserted, had tied to al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Sources said Memon’s particulars in the ‘Trust Deed’ and the Red Book of the Crimes Investigation Department (CID), Sindh, matched 100 percent.
According to their confessional statements in 2005, the detained militants revealed that three men including senior Al-Qaeda member Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (now in custody in the US), Abdul Rahman and Nasrullah - both Kuwait
i nationals fluent in Arabic, Balochi
and Persian
- arrived at the scene at the behest of Saud Memon, who was believed to be Al-Qaeda's chief financier in Pakistan, and who owned the house, where Pearl was held and took over the operation. The authoritieswere reportedly still searching for the Kuwaitis. On the day Pearl died, two Pakistani men acting as guards were also present: Ali Khan, arrested several months ago, and Fazal Karim, an employee of Saud Memon.
According to the Associated Press
Memon disappeared four years ago in 2003, and was held in "mysterious detention" and released on April 28, 2007, when he was dumped on garbage heap in front of his home in Karachi
in very poor health and near death condition by unidentified men.
A human rights activist reported Memon to have been badly injured, weighing just 18 kg, having lost his memory, unable to speak and unable to recognize his family members.
According to Memon's family, he was abducted in March 2003 from South Africa
by FBI agents while on a business trip and later brought to Pakistan and held by intelligence agencies. His brother, Mahmood Memon, said the family learned only this year from another detainee, who had been released that Memon was in Pakistan
and that "we don’t know who had been holding him for the past over four years, but my brother had nothing to do with Al Qaeda or Daniel Pearl’s murder". His sister said he was not connected to Al Qaeda or Pearl's death.
An review of Bernard-Henri Lévy
's book 'Who killed Daniel Pearl?', published in the Asia Times
on June 28, 2003 said:
Mr. Mansfield of the CIA declined to comment on Memon’s case, saying, "The C.I.A. does not, as a rule, comment on allegations regarding who has, or has not, been in its custody."
Five days after he was freed, Memon appeared in a wheelchair before the Supreme Court in Islamabad. Reporters in court said he appeared to be in very poor physical condition.
Pakistani police officials said they wanted to question Memon, but no charges had been laid against him.
Human rights groups have said they suspect that Memon and several others were held in secret extrajudicial detention
by Pakistani intelligence agents probing Pearl's slaying.
Amina Masood Janjua, Memon's lawyer and a human rights activist for missing Pakistanis, said, Memon was in the custody of Pakistani intelligence officials. A senior police official named Manzoor Mughal, investigating Pearl's murder, denied knowing that Memon had ever been in Pakistani custody.
According to Asra Q. Nomani
, a long time colleague of Daniel Pearl's, Pakistani papers reported that Saud Memon had been held in the United States
Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba
.
However, Saud Memon's name was not on the final official lists of Guantanamo captives, released on May 15, 2006.
of the private Liaquat National hospital - close to 3 weeks after his release. His death was attributed to complications related to meningitis
and tuberculosis
according to Dr Ali Azmat Abidi of the hospital. Memon leaves behind his wife, four sons and a daughter, who declined to talk to the press.
The Wall Street Journal also quoted an unnamed Pakistani official who said that Saud Memon was held in the American Bagram Theater detention facility, and that he was already in poor condition, when the American repatriated him to Pakistani custody.
Human rights organization, Amnesty International
, also expressed concerns about the fate and whereabouts of hundreds of people remained unclear and they were feared to be at risk of torture and other ill-treatment referring to Memon and his whereabouts during 2003-2007 and his death. They were said Memon contracted tuberculosis while in alleged US custody.
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) also noted Memon as one of the missing persons to resurface, as victims of abuse "revealing the existence of centers and places of illegal detention, inhuman and degrading treatment suffered, and confessions extracted under torture."
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i businessman from Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
dealing in yarn and textiles. Memon was said to own the shed where American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
journalist Daniel Pearl
Daniel Pearl
Daniel Pearl was an American journalist who was kidnapped and killed by Al-Qaeda.At the time of his kidnapping, Pearl served as the South Asia Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal, and was based in Mumbai, India. He went to Pakistan as part of an investigation into the alleged links between...
was killed. Memon was wanted by law-enforcement agencies in the Pearl case for supposedly providing the place where Pearl was beheaded and subsequently buried. However, Memon was never formally charged.
Disappearance and involvement
During the investigation of the kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl's in January 2002, the police were looking for Memon, an industrialist who reportedly owned the shed where Pearl's remains were found, by January 2003. Memon was named by several arrested members of Harakat ul-Mujahedeen Al-Almi as their chief financial backer and was believed to have fled Pakistan. Memon was reported as being still at large.In April 2005 it was reported that Memon was one of the trustees of Al-Akhtar Trust International, a charity, the United States Treasury asserted, had tied to al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Sources said Memon’s particulars in the ‘Trust Deed’ and the Red Book of the Crimes Investigation Department (CID), Sindh, matched 100 percent.
According to their confessional statements in 2005, the detained militants revealed that three men including senior Al-Qaeda member Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (now in custody in the US), Abdul Rahman and Nasrullah - both Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
i nationals fluent in Arabic, Balochi
Balochi language
Balochi is a Northwestern Iranian language. It is the principal language of the Baloch of Balochistan, Pakistan, eastern Iran and southern Afghanistan. It is also spoken as a second language by some Brahui. It is designated as one of nine official languages of Pakistan.-Vowels:The Balochi vowel...
and Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
- arrived at the scene at the behest of Saud Memon, who was believed to be Al-Qaeda's chief financier in Pakistan, and who owned the house, where Pearl was held and took over the operation. The authoritieswere reportedly still searching for the Kuwaitis. On the day Pearl died, two Pakistani men acting as guards were also present: Ali Khan, arrested several months ago, and Fazal Karim, an employee of Saud Memon.
According to the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
Memon disappeared four years ago in 2003, and was held in "mysterious detention" and released on April 28, 2007, when he was dumped on garbage heap in front of his home in Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
in very poor health and near death condition by unidentified men.
A human rights activist reported Memon to have been badly injured, weighing just 18 kg, having lost his memory, unable to speak and unable to recognize his family members.
According to Memon's family, he was abducted in March 2003 from South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
by FBI agents while on a business trip and later brought to Pakistan and held by intelligence agencies. His brother, Mahmood Memon, said the family learned only this year from another detainee, who had been released that Memon was in Pakistan
and that "we don’t know who had been holding him for the past over four years, but my brother had nothing to do with Al Qaeda or Daniel Pearl’s murder". His sister said he was not connected to Al Qaeda or Pearl's death.
An review of Bernard-Henri Lévy
Bernard-Henri Lévy
Bernard-Henri Lévy is a French public intellectual, philosopher and journalist. Often referred to today, in France, simply as BHL, he was one of the leaders of the "Nouveaux Philosophes" movement in 1976.-Early life:...
's book 'Who killed Daniel Pearl?', published in the Asia Times
Asia Times
Asia Times was a newspaper launched in Thailand by Thai tycoon Sondhi Limthongkul in 1995. The newspaper hired talent from around the world to produce a regional English-language newspaper....
on June 28, 2003 said:
Mr. Mansfield of the CIA declined to comment on Memon’s case, saying, "The C.I.A. does not, as a rule, comment on allegations regarding who has, or has not, been in its custody."
Five days after he was freed, Memon appeared in a wheelchair before the Supreme Court in Islamabad. Reporters in court said he appeared to be in very poor physical condition.
Pakistani police officials said they wanted to question Memon, but no charges had been laid against him.
Human rights groups have said they suspect that Memon and several others were held in secret extrajudicial detention
Extrajudicial detention
Arbitrary or extrajudicial detention is the detention of individuals by a state, without ever laying formal charges against them.Although it has a long history of legitimate use in wartime , detention without charge, sometimes in secret, has been one of the hallmarks of totalitarian states...
by Pakistani intelligence agents probing Pearl's slaying.
Amina Masood Janjua, Memon's lawyer and a human rights activist for missing Pakistanis, said, Memon was in the custody of Pakistani intelligence officials. A senior police official named Manzoor Mughal, investigating Pearl's murder, denied knowing that Memon had ever been in Pakistani custody.
According to Asra Q. Nomani
Asra Q. Nomani
Asra Q Nomani is an Indian-American journalist, author, and feminist, known as an activist involved in the Muslim reform and Islamic feminist movements. She teaches journalism at Georgetown University and is co-director of the Pearl Project, a faculty-student, investigative-reporting project into...
, a long time colleague of Daniel Pearl's, Pakistani papers reported that Saud Memon had been held in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
.
However, Saud Memon's name was not on the final official lists of Guantanamo captives, released on May 15, 2006.
Death
Memon died 2.30 PM on Friday, May 18, 2007 in the ICUICU
ICU may refer to:*I.C.U. , an Australian thriller starring Christian Radford*Intensive care unit, a specialized facility in a hospital that provides intensive care medicine...
of the private Liaquat National hospital - close to 3 weeks after his release. His death was attributed to complications related to meningitis
Meningitis
Meningitis is inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, known collectively as the meninges. The inflammation may be caused by infection with viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms, and less commonly by certain drugs...
and tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
according to Dr Ali Azmat Abidi of the hospital. Memon leaves behind his wife, four sons and a daughter, who declined to talk to the press.
Torture controversy
An article from the November 12, 2007 issue of the Wall Street Journal quoted an unnamed senior US counter-terrorism official, who said he was:The Wall Street Journal also quoted an unnamed Pakistani official who said that Saud Memon was held in the American Bagram Theater detention facility, and that he was already in poor condition, when the American repatriated him to Pakistani custody.
Human rights organization, Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
, also expressed concerns about the fate and whereabouts of hundreds of people remained unclear and they were feared to be at risk of torture and other ill-treatment referring to Memon and his whereabouts during 2003-2007 and his death. They were said Memon contracted tuberculosis while in alleged US custody.
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) also noted Memon as one of the missing persons to resurface, as victims of abuse "revealing the existence of centers and places of illegal detention, inhuman and degrading treatment suffered, and confessions extracted under torture."