Pakistani Torture Project has lift off!

Last week, the Pakistan Police Torture Team officially moved in to our new Birmingham offices, set in the heart of the Jewellery Quarter (which certainly lives up to its name) in the city centre.

This will now be our base as we try to identify and take witness statements of those British Pakistanis that have suffered abuse at the hands of the police over in Pakistan.

Setting up the office marks the start of the project, and it has now been exponentially transformed from a dusty storage unit into a fully-fledged professional office. The excitement of a new office complete with 18ft of desk space, a telephone line, Wi-Fi, printing facilities, a lounge area, and a kitchen will ensure that we spend lots of time there, although we know that it is on the road where most of the work lies. The office has been donated to us by Phil Shiner at Public Interest Lawyers, to whom we owe a massive debt of thanks, and we are making an extra effort to be courteous tenants. We have already made friends with our neighbours – including Peter, an enigmatic sculptor who kindly offered up some screwdrivers for our Ikea carpentry.

The space itself is perfect for the project; we now have a base where victims of torture can contact us directly. It is also a great place to continue our media campaign, and print off the leaflets and posters which be distributed among the comprehensive list of community groups, mosques, and organisations across the Midlands that we are drawing up.

Of course, now we have the office up and running, the serious hard work begins…