After being detained for nearly 12 years, Zulfiqar Ali, a Pakistani national, is set to be executed in Indonesia in less than 48 hours despite a very strong claim of innocence.

Ali, 52, was arrested in Nov. 2004 at his home without a warrant. For three days, Ali was kicked, punched and threatened with death by the Soekarno-Hatta Airport district police until he was forced to sign a self-incriminating “confession”. 

Ali was arrested after his acquaintance was caught with 300 grams of heroine in Jakarta. The co-accused retracted the statement that implicated Ali in the crime, saying that it was coerced from him using torture and the incentive of a lesser sentence. Police had no material evidence to support their charge against Ali.

The father of 6 was not provided a lawyer for a month, and no one from the Pakistan Embassy was contacted. And even though his “confession” was extracted through torture, it forms the sole basis upon which he may be executed.

The neglect in Ali's case was so palpable that a team of Indonesia's Law and Human Rights Ministry commissioned a report to investigate Zulfiqar's case. Echoing the findings of the report, the lead on the team, Hafid Abbas, has confirmed that he "is sure that Zulfiqar is innocent," and recommends cancelling his death sentence. 

Ali did not speak the language and received limited translation assistance throughout his detention and court proceedings.

Pakistan must signal to the world that its citizens matter, that they will protect them, that if anyone tries to take away their fundamental rights, they will stand for it.

Sign this petition to demand that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Mamnoon Hussain intervene and Zulfiqar Ali's death sentence overturned. Sign this petition to demand that Indonesia make the contents of the Law and Human Rights Ministry Report public.

Your voice could save Zulfiqar's life.