Missing Pakistani anti-drone activist released after abduction and torture

A Pakistani drone victim who was kidnapped from his home earlier this month has been released. According to the British human rights NGO Reprieve, Kareem Khan reappeared on February 14th, after his captors threw him from a van and told him not to speak with the media about what had happened.

During his illegal detention, presumably in the custody of Pakistani intelligence services, Khan says he beaten, tortured, and repeatedly interrogated about his work documenting the covert drone war in North Waziristan. Shortly after his release, Khan stated: “When I was picked up I thought I would never see my family again, that I would never be free again because of all the stories I have heard about disappeared people. Now that I have been released and have seen the news, the efforts of activists, I know it is because of them that I am free, and I would like to thank them.”

Khan became an anti-drone activist after his brother and son were killed in a December 2010 drone strike. He is due to met with German, Dutch, and British parliamentarians this week.