PAKISTAN: The body of a Pakistani who died in German prison arrives in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore

Record ID: 872693

  • Title: PAKISTAN: The body of a Pakistani who died in German prison arrives in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore
  • Date: 13th May 2006
  • Summary: (BN10) LAHORE, PAKISTAN (MAY 13, 2006) (REUTERS) WIDE SHOT EXTERIOR OF LAHORE AIRPRT; SECURITY INSIDE AIRPORT; INTERNATIONAL ARRIVALS BOARD (9 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 28th May 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • City:
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA9T1L2707PT1MI46CFJZAN4M4G
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  • Story Text: The body of Amir Cheema, a Pakistani who died in a German prison, arrived in Pakistan's eastern city of Lahore from Berlin on Saturday morning (May 13) for burial in his ancestral town in Pakistan's central Punjab province.
    Twenty-eight-year-old Cheema died in custody after he was arrested in Germany in March on charges of attempting to kill the editor of German newspaper, 'Die Welt', for reprinting cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad first published in Denmark last year.
    Cheema's coffin arrived at Lahore airport from Germany and a government helicopter carried the body to his family in Saroki, a village 90 miles northwest of Lahore, the provincial capital of the central Punjab province.
    Islamist party activists organised small but fiery protests in Islamabad and several other cities of Pakistan on Friday (May 12) against Cheema's death in jail. Some 300 protesters, mostly drawn from the Sunni Students Movement of Pakistan, demonstrated outside Islamabad's Red Mosque after Friday prayers. The protesters chanted slogans of "Al Jihad, Al Jihad" (Holy War) and "Allahu-Akbar (God is Greatest).
    There were also demonstrations in Lahore, Multan, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan -- all cities in central Punjab province.
    Gunter Mulack, German ambassador to Pakistan, told a news conference on Friday that a report on the case had been given to Pakistani investigators in Berlin. Islamists have threatened to attack German interests and called for the expulsion of its ambassador, as well as the overthrow of Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf.
    Two senior Pakistani investigators conducted inquiries in Berlin on Thursday (May 11) into Cheema's death in police custody. One of Germany's top pathologists, Volkmar Schneider, performed the autopsy last Wednesday, which found that the injuries were consistent with suicide and there was no evidence whatever of anyone else hurting Cheema, a prosecution spokesman said.
    A resident of Rawalpindi, Cheema was arrested in Berlin on March 20 after he reportedly tried to enter the offices of the German newspaper 'Die Welt'. He was accused of trying to kill the editor-in-chief, Roger Koeppel, because the newspaper had printed caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed. German police said they had also recovered a knife from Cheema, who was a student of textile engineering in Moenchengladbach and had gone to Berlin to see relatives.
    Police say Cheema hanged himself with a noose made from his own clothing.
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