Briton held without charge in Pakistan jail

Is Reingzeb Ahmed an extremely unfortunate traveller? Or is there another reason why the British citizen has spent more than eight years in south Asian jails - detained but not charged by the authorities?

The 32-year-old is being held in Rawalpindi's Adiala jail in Pakistan, where his family and campaigners are fighting for his release. The Pakistani authorities – who have allegedly refused to allow British consular staff to visit Mr Ahmed – say he is being held for security reasons, though they refuse to provide details and have not charged him.

Yet Mr Ahmed's relatives have revealed to The Independent on Sunday that the former shoe salesman was previously jailed by the Indian authorities, who released him without charge after seven years. "We're worried because we don't know what is going on. No one is telling us what is happening," said Mr Ahmed's brother, Mohammed Pervaiz, from Manchester. He said Mr Ahmed was visiting relatives in Pakistan when he was seized. "The British High Commission people went to the jail to see him, but the prison chief would not let them into the jail."

His family says Mr Ahmed was most recently arrested in August 2006 in the disputed Kashmir region. The head of a campaign group in Pakistan called Defence of Human Rights said Mr Ahmed had told him that while he had not been visited by British consular staff, he had been interrogated by both British and US officials. He said he had been tortured in jail.

A spokesman for the British High Commission in Islamabad said that despite repeated requests to visit Mr Ahmed, the Pakistani authorities had refused access. Of possible interrogation by British officials, the spokesman said he could not comment on intelligence matters.

This is Mr Ahmed's second spell in an Asian prison. In 1994 he was arrested by Indian authorities while on holiday in Kashmir. Mr Ahmed, then 18, apparently sought to join Muslim rebels in the region. Before his release in 2001, he told the Manchester Evening News: "When I was in England I heard that the Indian forces were doing wrong, killing children and burning mosques. I was told mothers and sisters were being raped by the Indians. It was my duty to go and fight them. I had to come."

The Indian authorities never charged Mr Ahmed with any offence, just as the Pakistani authorities have also so far declined to bring him to trial. A spokeswoman for Pakistan's Foreign Ministry, Tazim Aslam, said he was being held under the Pakistan Security Act. Asked what activities Mr Ahmed had allegedly been involved in, Ms Aslam said she was unable to say.

Mr Ahmed's brother said that when he initially returned from India he had been "changed" as a result of his incarceration. "He was a bit disturbed. They used to torture him and he went on several hunger strikes," he said. "When he came back he couldn't walk straight in the room."

"If there is evidence against him they should bring him to trial," added Mr Pervaiz. "If there is not, they should let him go."