The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) is among a number of human rights groups that have “strongly condemned” the diversion of a Ryanair flight by Belarusian authorities to Minsk airport, and the subsequent arrest of journalist Raman Pratasevich.

IBAHRI, along with the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (RWCHR) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), have called upon the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to urgently launch an international investigation into what they called “this state-sanctioned hijacking and threat to safe air navigation”.

The groups said Belarusian authorities falsified a bomb threat as a pretext to arrest Mr Pratasevich, the co-founder of a Belarusian opposition media channel.

'Abhorrent act'

IBAHRI co-chair Anne Ramberg described the incident as “a reckless and abhorrent act of state terrorism to detain Raman Pratasevich by any means necessary”.

The IBAHRI is callings for the immediate release of Mr Pratasevich and his companion Sofia Sapega.

Ms Ramberg added that the charges of extremism levelled against Mr Pratasevich, and the threat of capital punishment if found guilty, were “incredibly concerning”.

Tortured

Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said earlier this week that she believed Mr Pratasevich had been tortured.

The rights groups pointed out that Belarus is the only European country which has capital punishment, despite assurances that its removal would be considered in 2020 by the National Assembly.

They also say that the actions of Belarus violate international law and may have been in contravention of the 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation.