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Wednesday, May 19, 2004

# Posted 11:30 AM by Patrick Belton  

PAKISTAN DEMOCRACY WATCH: On Monday, and in a marked shift of tone if not policy, the United States demanded a transparent trial for a political prisoner in Pakistan and urged the Pakistani government to prepare for "fair multiparty elections" in 2007.

Javed Hashmi, a member of Parliament and leader of the opposition Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy, was arrested last fall on sedition charges and received a 23-year sentence in April for producing a letter in Parliament demonstrating the opposition on the part of many of the nation's senior generals to the military's continued interference in politics and support for a restoration of deomcracy. Hashmi's family and lawyer complained about a lack of transparency in his trial and that he was provided with inadequate access to counsel to prepare his defense.

UPI for more.
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