Two US citizens and their Pakistani employee were arrested in Pakistan for saving the life of a battered woman from her highly placed, influential government employed husband. Public officials, chiefly the recently appointed Ambassador of Pakistan to the Netherlands, used their contacts in the military government of General Pervez Musharraf to entrap the Americans and their employee on fabricated charges.


Mary Frances Zehri, a Kindergarten teacher from California, her Pakistani-born American husband, Mir-Mohammad Ismail Zehri, a consultant for the United Nations Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) for Afghanistan and their Pakistani employee, Bootow Yousafzai, were arrested last July in Islamabad and charged with alleged crimes of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, kidnapping, trespassing and vandalism (one of the worst combination of charges that could be conjured up under Pakistan's criminal justice system.) However, Mary succeeded in getting a pre-arrest bail, but Ismail and Bootow were not so lucky; they were kept in lock-up for six days before securing bail for their release.

The Ambassador of Pakistan to the Netherlands, Mustafa Kemal Kazi and a collaborator, General Shafi of the Pakistan Army, used their influence to involve the Police, Army and the notorious intelligence agency, Inter-services Intelligence (ISI), to entrap the Zehris. Furthermore, Dr. Mohammad Ahmed Kazi, husband of the battered woman, Basma Kazi and younger brother of Ambassador Mustafa, made self-inflicted wounds on his body with a surgical knife and prepared a medical report for the police files that the Zehris had attacked him with a dagger.

A team of high-level public officials sympathetic to the Kazis fabricated the following charges that Mary and Ismail, being foreign terrorists, attacked the house of Mustafa Kemal Kazi, who was then the Acting Foreign Secretary of Pakistan, and that they were:

- Regular visitors to Afghanistan;

- Linked with the Taliban militia of Afghanistan;

- Friends of Mir Aimal Kansi (convicted killer of two CIA agents in the US);

- Supporters of Osama bin Laden; and

- Involved in the recent bombing activities in the province of Balochistan.

Two fully-armed police squads were ready to empty their AK-47 automatic rifles into the bodies of Ismail and Bootow before arresting them (a common occurrence in Pakistan), but sanity prevailed, and thus they were taken to the Kohsar Police Station in Islamabad at 11:30 PM on July 2nd. Afterwards, Inspector Jamil Ahmed Hashmi, the Station House Officer (SHO) of Kohsar Police Station, two police squads and undercover officers of ISI conducted an unauthorized raid on the Zehri's residence at 3:00 AM to arrest Mary. But, instead of allowing anyone inside their well-secured residence and sensing the danger of the situation, Mary immediately called Martin T. Donnelly, Regional Security Officer of the US embassy in Islamabad and requested help. Donnelly acted quickly, and shortly afterwards, showed up at her front door along with David T. Donahue, Counsel General of the US embassy.

Before the arrival of the American officials, Mary informed Inspector Hashmi that she had called the US embassy, and representatives were on their way to talk to the raiding party. Upon hearing that the matter might turn into an international incident, Inspector Hashmi and his raiding party fled the scene. (It is common in Pakistan for law enforcement organizations to raid in the early morning hours to either rape, torture and possibly murder relatives of suspects under interrogation in order to extract false confessions. It is estimated that more than 70% of prisoners in Pakistani jails are innocent of any crimes but were jailed when the opposing parties used every unlawful means to keep them confined behind bars.)

Upon their arrival at the Zehri home, Donnelly and Donahue took a statement from Mary and then proceeded to the Kohsar Jail where her husband, Ismail, and their employee, Bootow, were being held for questioning. Then, when the American officials inquired about charges against the Zehris, they were informed by the Police that the Zehris and their employee were booked under terrorism charges.

However, later that morning, the criminal charges against the Zehris and their employee were illegally tampered by someone who had easy access to official Police documents. Perhaps the Kazis realized that there were insufficient evidence as well as US embassy's involvement in protecting their citizen's human rights to sustain the terrorism charges. To avoid any attention to their clandestine activities and embarrassment to Musharraf's government, it is presumed that public officials, especially the Assistant Superintendent of Police, Muneer Sheikh and Inspector Hashmi altered the said document and softened the charges.



It all started last April, when Mary Zehri -- who has a Master's Degree in Counseling from California State University, Fresno -- was helping Basma (a distant cousin of Ismail) to recover from five years of severe domestic violence directed at her by her sadistic husband, Dr. Kazi, a high-ranking official for the Pakistani government's Ministry of Health. After being called upon by Basma for emotional support on many occasions, Mary had assured her that she would be available at any time to help her if Dr. Kazi's violent behavior escalated to a dangerous level. This seemed like a good offer being that Dr. Kazi had listened to reason in the past and had not acted out of control when Mary was present.

But, after few peaceful months, on the night of July 1st, Mary received yet another distress call from Basma that her husband was acting peculiar and was ready to attack her again. She requested that Mary come immediately to her house, and with Mary's presence there, perhaps Dr. Kazi would calm down. Basma indicated that her husband was more irrational than usual this time, which distressed Mary to the point to call Dr. Kazi's brother, Ambassador Mustafa, to come to assist her with the counseling of his brother. But, he was on his way to a formal dinner reception, and thus, informed Mary that he would not be able to intercede due to his prior engagement. Therefore, Mary, with house guests of her own, yet very worried for Basma's safety, sent her chauffeur, Bootow, over to just stand watch and be present to assist Basma if she needed someone. Meanwhile, Mary and Ismail gingerly excused themselves from their guests and proceeded to the Kazi's residence.

When the Zehris arrived at the Kazi's house, customarily, Mary went inside first to calm down the situation while Ismail stayed outside. But, to her dismay, Dr. Kazi was unusually annoyed when she entered their premise. She calmly inquired whether Basma and the children were okay. Mary was more afraid this time because of Dr. Kazi's greatly agitated state of mind. She found out that their two young children were locked in a separate room and Basma was being forced to stay outside on the balcony.

Mary tried to reason with Dr. Kazi to let his children out of the locked room and allow Basma to come inside the house to discuss the matter, but Dr. Kazi started a heated argument with her which ensued into a physical attack on Mary. Upon hearing her screams for help, both Ismail and Bootow rushed inside the house. They witnessed that Dr. Kazi was physically assaulting Mary, and thus, they interceded. They managed to free Mary, Basma and her two young children, Anne (4) and Sultan (2) and helped them to escape to safety. Mary, Basma and her children left to avoid the escalating violent behavior of Dr. Kazi.

In the meantime, an altercation started between Dr. Kazi and Ismail which Bootow tried to stop, but without any success. To make matters worse, soon afterwards, Ambassador Mustafa arrived at his brother's house with his government appointed body-guard and a neighbor and started to physically assault Ismail, too.

Later, Basma and the Zehris went to the Kohsar Police Station in Islamabad to report the terrible incident, but the police refused to file any charges against the Kazis because of their high status in Musharraf's government. Instead, the Assistant Sub-inspector Abro Irshad Ali called Ambassador Mustafa to inform him about the Zehri's plans to file charges against him and his brother for assault. Soon afterwards, instead of anyone from the Kazi family, a Major Asim of ISI showed up at the Police Station and assured the Zehris that there was no need to file any charges against the Kazis as it was a simple domestic dispute which could easily be resolved without making a spectacle. Furthermore, he scheduled a meeting for the two families to meet at 10:00 AM on Monday, July 3rd and offered to mediate in their dispute. But, by the following night on July 2nd, Ismail and Bootow were arrested by Police squads lead by Sub-inspector Ali; and shortly afterwards, during the wee hours of July 3rd, the Police raided the Zehri's residence to arrest Mary!

Earlier that day at the pre-fourth of July Independence Day celebration held annually at the US embassy, Mary and Ismail, along with their three young daughters, Nerissa (15), Razilee (12) and Alina (8) had a chance meeting with Donnelly whom they briefed about the previous day's incident involving the Kazi family. Donnelly offered his help and asked the Zehris to call him in case of an emergency. Unfortunately, that very night, Mary had to call him for help. This coincidental meeting with the US embassy's Regional Security Officer proved very fortunate for the Zehris; without the US embassy's help, perhaps today they would not be alive to tell this story.

To minimize the wrath of the Kazi family's vengeance against the Zehris, Basma reluctantly returned to her husband on July 3rd and tried to convince her husband to drop the charges, but to no avail. Instead, Dr. Kazi immediately posted armed-guards outside of his house, and kept Basma under house-arrest. No one was allowed to visit her nor was she permitted to leave her home. He also kept her sedated in order to assure that she would not make any attempts to escape or make statements in the courts which could implicate him. While Ismail and Bootow were still in jail, Mary called friends and relatives to help her get her husband and employee freed. With the assistance of many good Pakistani people, Ismail and Bootow were released on bail on July 8th.

Then, against all odds of getting any justice, the Zehris fearlessly campaigned to inform the world about their innocence. They contacted the Dutch Ambassador through his Secretary, Ms. Courcol and Counselor, Mr. Mar Van Der Gaag, to inform the Dutch Government that Mustafa Kemal Kazi was someone who was directly involved in violating basic human rights through "unjust imprisonment" of Ismail and Bootow, and supported his brother, Dr. Kazi, to commit "gender based violence" against Basma. They also requested the US Government through its Ambassador in Pakistan, Mr. William Milam, to investigate the unauthorized Police raid on their residence. Various members of Musharraf's government were notified of the incident: the Minister of Health, Dr. Malik Kasi; Minister of Women's Affairs, Zubaida Jalal; and Attiyah Innayatullah, a member of the powerful National Security Council.

The Kazi family immediately felt the pressure from members of the international community and Musharraf's government. This actually caused Dr. Kazi to panic and revert to his old self. He twice attempted to commit suicide and blame his death on the Zehris so that they would be implicated on murder charges. Once, he released petroleum gas in his house to set it afire with Basma and their children inside with him, but did not carry out this ghastly act. Finally, he planned to take Basma to the Himalayas to (presumably) push her off the cliff and take custody of the children, but was unable to carry out this terrible deed, as well.

Basma's mother, Nasreen, living in the distant city of Karachi, was informed by the Zehris of her daughter's life being in danger. She took the first flight to Islamabad and immediately hired the services of a human rights lawyer, Nahida Mahboob Elahi, who managed to file a Habeas Corpus petition with the Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi Bench. The presiding judge ordered the recovery of Basma and her children from Dr. Kazi's imposed confinement. On July 15th, the Court Bailiff and a Police raiding party surrounded the Kazi's residence and disarmed his security guard. They recovered a confused and intoxicated Basma along with her children from Dr. Kazi's house.

Then, with the help of Ismail's friends in the United Nations, the Zehris contacted Ann Keeling, a Senior Advisor to the United Nations in Pakistan working on gender and poverty based issues. She counseled Basma and received her permission to immediately start the process to save her from being harmed (or murdered) by the influential Kazis. Because Basma's brother, Mir Sohrab Zehri, lives in London, it was considered the safest place for her and the children to take refuge. With assistance from the British High Commission, Keeling filed an immigration visa application for Basma and her children to get asylum in UK.

Members of the Kazi family who were actively involved in using all available means to harass the Zehris were: Professor Ahmed Kazi (father), former advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan; Mustafa Kemal Kazi (brother), recently appointed as Ambassador of Pakistan to the Netherlands; Iqbal Kazi (brother), former Secretary Industries in Sindh; Farooq Kazi (brother), an engineer with the Sindh government; Dr. Mohammad Ahmed Kazi, Deputy National Health Coordinator with Ministry of Health; Mustafa Jamal Kazi (brother), District Magistrate in Sindh; and the infamous Farooq Amin Qureshi (brother-in-law), the former Deputy Inspector General of Karachi Police who is now the key witness in the hijacking case against Pakistan's former Prime Minister, Mian Nawaz Sharif.

The patriarch of the family, Professor Ahmed Kazi contacted his old friend, Brigadier Azam Effindi of Pakistan Army to intimidate the Zehris with severe consequences inflicted on them by Musharraf's government if they did not cooperate in reuniting Basma with her husband. Mustafa Kamal Kazi, tried to cover-up his involvement to avoid jeopardizing his most recent appointment as Ambassador of Pakistan to the Netherlands. Farooq Qazi falsely introduced himself as Deputy Inspector General of Karachi Police around Islamabad and tried to exploit the situation to his advantage by attempting many power maneuvers to deceive lower ranking public officials. Meanwhile, Dr. Qazi started a phone campaign to members of the Zehri's extended family to defame Ismail and Mary for their unnecessary involvement in his marital affairs. Jamal Kazi used his contacts in Pakistan's Intelligence Bureau (IB) to illegally put a wire-tap on the Zehri's phone lines and follow their movements around town. As far as the activities of other members of the Kazi family are concerned, they are yet to be discovered.

Although the Kazis made several unlawful attempts to destroy the Zehris, they have yet to succeed. The Zehris' belief in basic human rights and determination to boldly face any adversary resulted in their freedom for the time being. As a matter of fact, the Kazis have realized and fear that the incident could turn into a high profile event and receive international publicity, which may become a liability and jeopardize the privileges bestowed upon them by the government.

Therefore, on the advice of Brigadier Effindi, Dr. Qazi put up Mary's bail and signed a statement for the Kohsar Police Station that the dispute was resolved. But, unfortunately, the court case will take its own course before it is closed. The next court hearing is on September 12, 2000, and henceforth, anything can happen during this interim period. Keeping the sensitive nature of the criminal case in perspective and not leaving anything to chance, the Zehris took a bold step and sent their two daughters, Nerissa and Razilee, to live with their grandparents, Ann and Van Dietz, in California, USA. Their youngest daughter, Alina, remains with them.

Meanwhile, two new developments are quite disturbing. Police Inspector Jamil Ahmed Hashmi is under investigation for the murder of a poor, innocent Christian man who was tortured to death in his cell at Kohsar Police Station by the interrogation officers. Soon afterwards, Inspector Hashmi was also involved in the molestation of an Afghan boy -- a minor -- who was entrapped and put in the lock-up. But, to everyone's surprise, the high officials of the government have come to his rescue and declared him innocent of all charges. It is presumed that for his past "favors" and "dutiful" service to these officials, Inspector Hashmi was rewarded with a lucrative assignment to go to Bosnia as a member of the Pakistani contingent of Law Enforcement Officials to the United Nations. But, under pressure from the Christian community, the Minister of Interiors, General (Retired) Moinuddin Haider ordered him to stay in Pakistan until the investigation in the murder case was complete. Ironically, all those officers who were involved in the Zehri's court case are currently suspended from their duty for their involvement in the murder case. This can create further delays in closing the court case.

Secondly, like many other battered women in Pakistan, Basma feared: the aftermath of divorce and its stigma; her inability to secure finances to support herself and her two children; the legal system that ruthlessly prosecutes women; and uncertainty about the acceptance of her asylum request by the British High Commission. Thus, she reluctantly returned to her husband and is trying to make her marriage work, once again. In fact, she is terrified of her predicament and has expressed that she does not want to pursue the asylum case which could jeopardize her renewed relationship with her husband.

Under such circumstances, the Zehris are concerned about their court case. Unfortunately, it is possible that under duress, Basma might change her statement in the courts to save her marriage or herself from further torture and battering from Dr. Kazi, and implicate the Zehris. Therefore, it is still uncertain if the Zehris and their loyal employee, Bootow, will be arrested and put in jail again. Only time will tell...