Pakistan: 60-year-old mother takes on ISI over son's death

Islamabad: A crucial hearing is set to take place in Pakistan on Friday on a plea filed against the powerful spy agency, the ISI, over the death of a man who was in its custody. And taking over the agency is none other than the man's mother, a 60-year-old.

"This was Abdul Saboor before he was taken into a custody by the ISI. This is what he looked like after," says Rohaifa Bibi.

"He had so many marks on his body, here and here and on his back. When they showed me the body, he was just skin and bones."

"This is proof," she says, "that the ISI tortured and killed my son."

Now, the 60-year-old is doing what few others in Pakistan have ever dared - taking on the ISI and demanding answers.

The spy agency has long been accused of backing and toppling politicians, using militant groups as proxies, and extrajudicial killings. The ISI, however, denies all the charges. Also, curiously, no one from the ISI ever speaks publicly on camera and no one from the ISI has ever been put on trial.

However, the case of Abdul Saboor could be different because it has the backing of the Supreme Court and its popular Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry - an institution, and its leader, fast becoming Pakistan's watchdog against government crime and corruption.

The court has ordered the ISI to explain why Saboor, his two brothers, and 8 other men were arrested, and how four of them, including Saboor, died in custody.

In the coming weeks the ISI will have to explain the deaths to the apex court in what could be the biggest challenge the spy agency has faced from a civilian institution.

For Pakistan, it is a crucial test for democracy - a barometer for who really is in power. For a mother, it is the chance for justice she has long been waiting for.

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