Raja Rizwan

Brigadier Raja Rizwan Ali Haider (Urdu: راجہ رضوان), (1958 – November 24, 2019) was a Pakistan Army Officer and military attache.

Brigadier

Raja Rizwan Haider
Born1958
Khanpur, Rahim Yar Khan
Died24 November 2019(2019-11-24) (aged 60–61)
Central Jail Rawalpindi
Cause of deathExecution by hanging
Allegiance Pakistan
Service/branch Pakistan Army
Years of servicetill 2014
Rank Brigadier
Unit10th Frontier Force Regiment
Alma materCadet College Hasan Abdal

He was arrested in 2018 on espionage charges of passing Pakistani nuclear secrets to CIA. He was convicted with military trial in 2019 of espionage and treason, and was executed by hanging later that year.[1][2][3]

Background

Rizwan was born in 1958 in Khanpur, Rahim Yar Khan to a lower middle class farming family.[4]

He first served with the 68th PMA course at Kakul, then was commissioned in the 10th Frontier Force Regiment, serving in the tribal territories.[4]

In 2009, He was assigned to the Pakistani embassy in Berlin as the Defence Attache. He was posted to MODP (Islamabad) in 2012, then applied to retire in 2014, and was working with Zhongba (a Chinese Company) as a security consultant.[4]

Personal life

His father was a Junior Commissioned Officer in the Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers.[5]

Trial

On the eve of 10 October 2018, Brigadier Raja Rizwan was arrested by Intelligence & Military Personnel. On 23 October his son Ali Rizwan Raja petitioned the Islamabad High Court for information.[2] Justice Aamer Farooq sought a report from the authorities.[4] In February 2019, Major General Asif Ghafoor, announced that two senior military officers were being held on espionage charges.[2]

On May 30, 2019, Chief of the Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa announced that Brigadier Raja Rizwan, along with another Lt. General Javed and Dr Waseem Akram, had been tried and convicted of selling nuclear secrets to a foreign power. The announcement did not say who he spied for, although speculation revolved around India and the CIA. Brigadier Raja Rizwan was sentenced to death.[3]

Brigadier Raja Rizwan challenged the military court's verdict in the Military Appellate Court, which dismissed it. Brigadier Raja Rizwan then appealed to the Lahore High Court (LHC). He claimed that the military authorities were not sharing the details related to the trial proceedings.

Brigadier Raja Rizwan was put in Adiala Jail Rawalpindi and executed by hanging on 24 November 2019.

References
  1. Iyer-Mitra, Abhijit (2019-11-27). "Pakistan's spy arrests: Brigadier's kids studied in US, engineer bought home in his own name". ThePrint. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
  2. "For selling N-secrets, Pakistan jails Lt Gen for life, will hang Brigadier, scientist". The Indian Express. 2019-06-01. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
  3. "Pakistan general gets life for spying". BBC News. 2019-05-31. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
  4. BANERJI, RANA. "Pakistan hangs brigadier for spying". Rediff. Retrieved 2021-03-10.
  5. "The inside story of the Pakistan espionage ring". 12 June 2019.
  • Hasnain Kazim: Vollstreckt. Die Zeit, March 28, 2021 (German)
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