Hayatullah Khan

Incident Description: Abducted; body recovered

On June 16, 2006, the body of reporter for English-language daily The Nation and Urdu-language Daily Ausaf as well photographer for the European Press Agency, Hayatullah Khan, was found outside a village in Mirali in North Waziristan tribal agency in erstwhile FATA. Khan had been kidnapped by five armed, masked men on December 5, 2005. According to Dawn, Khan’s body was found with his hands chained, and he had been shot from behind.

According to his brother, Khan had “looked weak”, he had grown a beard and was wearing the same clothes he was wearing when he was kidnapped. He said Khan appeared to have received five gunshots and looked like he was shot from behind while trying to escape. Khan was abducted a day after his photographs of the remnants of a US made Hellfire missile that killed a senior Al-Qaeda leader from Egypt, Hamza Rabia, in Mira Shah, were distributed by the European Press Photo Agency on December 4.

The photographs were an apparent contradiction of the official explanation that Rabia died in a blast caused by explosives located within the house, and not from an aerial attack. Khan’s kidnapping remained shrouded in mystery with rumours of him being in the custody of Taliban, Americans and Pakistani security forces. All denied holding the journalist. Khan left behind his wife, two sons and two daughters.

A judicial commission was appointed following his murder. A former chief justice had ordered an inquiry in to the case. A political agent and governor has also ordered an inquiry. While the Supreme Court completed its inquiry, the government never published the findings. On July 15, 2020, the Peshawar High Court directed federal and provincial governments to respond to a petition seeking orders to release the report of a judicial inquiry into Khan’s abduction and death, Dawn reported.