By Do Je-hae
Staff Reporter
A Pakistani national suspected of being linked to the Taliban Islamic militant group filed a harassment claim with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) while he was being watched by the intelligence authorities last year.
An acting Imam of the Daegu Islamic Center, the 36-year-old, arrested for using a fake passport and working for the terrorist organization, submitted a petition to the NHRC on Dec. 7, claiming that "his privacy was being invaded by the authorities who were following his activities based on their suspicion that he was a terrorist," according to an NHRC official.
The petition reportedly contains detailed examples of how he was being harassed by agents of the National Intelligence Service (NIS).
The NHRC will look into whether the authorities were following proper procedures while they were investigating him.
The NHRC sent an official document to the NIS inquiring after specific legal basis for the investigation.
"When we hear from the NIS, we will meet with the petitioner and closely examine the case to find out if there were actual incidences of human rights violations."
The police and the NIS had been investigating the suspect for a year over terrorist-related activities, such as reporting U.S. intelligence information back to the Taliban and urging followers of the Daegu Islamic center to praise Jihad.
The suspect was arrested last Thursday at his home in Daegu on charges of using a forged passport to enter the country and being linked to the terrorist group, and is currently being detained for questioning. He has denied all charges against him.
The man, whose name has been withheld for legal reasons, first entered Korea in 2001.
There are currently 100,000 foreign Muslims in Korea hailing from countries such as Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and upwards of 30,000 Korean followers of Islam.
This is the first time that a potential terrorist suspect has been arrested in Korea. Previous encounters with Taliban suspects have only been through drug trafficking groups linked with the terrorist organization.