UK in Court Over Fears British Money is Assisting Pakistan Drug Executions

Lawyers from human rights organization Reprieve on Thursday took the government to the Information Rights Tribunal (IRT) over its refusal to release specific pieces of information relating to the UK's support of the ANF.

The failure to publish any documents assessing the risk of British funding to the ANF has led to concerns that it may in fact be helping authorities sentence those found guilty of non-violent drug offences to death. 

The UK has funded the ANF since the 1990s and is opposed to the death penalty, however Pakistan lifted an unofficial moratorium on executions in December 2014, with concerns that thousands of people, including more than 100 convicted of drug-related offences, may be at risk of being executed.

Critics say that any proven links between UK funding of the anti-drugs body and executions would contradict the UK's commitment to abolishing the death penalty worldwide.

The tribunal, which is expected to be the last one before a decision is made on the matter, follows an earlier hearing in February 2014, which took place in secret, at the government's request.

Maya Foa, director of the death penalty team at Reprieve said: "The FCO [UK Foreign Office] is falling over itself to prevent information about how it ensures its overseas activities align with basic British human rights principles from coming to light.

"Yet if the measures taken were sufficient, why would there be any need to keep them secret? The British public has a right to know if their taxes are funding death sentences and executions in countries like Pakistan and Iran, where juveniles and exploited drug mules are sent to the gallows on a daily basis. Ministers need to come clean."

The hearing comes amid increased concern over the UK's relationship with such anti-drug bodies, with Britain's Home Affairs Select Committee last year announcing a review into the policy, over concerns finding may be leading to the breaching of human rights.