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| India-Pakistan |
| Karachi boomers to be tried in prison |
| 2003-03-10 |
| KARACHI, March 10 (AFP) - Pakistani police said Monday they had gained permission to try in prison two Islamic militants charged over a suicide bomb attack that killed 11 French naval engineers. Police had asked authorities in southern Sindh province to move the trial to Karachi's Central Jail to ensure greater security for judges and prosecutors. Sindh's home department gave the green light, police investigations chief Fayyaz Leghari said. "The decision to conduct the trial inside jail has been taken as the two suspects are dangerous criminals," Leghari told AFP. Not gonna let these fish get away... Asif Zaheer, from the Harkat Jihad-ul Islami militant group, and Mohammad Bashir, from the outlawed Kashmiri militant group Harkatul Mujahedin, are charged with murder and terrorism. Both charges carry the death penalty. The prison authorities refused to produce the pair in a courthouse where the anti-terrorism court was sitting on March 5, saying the pair's appearance would be "a security risk." Not gonna let the fishes' friends try to bust 'em free either... Zaheer and Bashir allegedly helped plot the ramming of an explosives-laden Volkswagen beetle into a bus carrying the French engineers outside the Sheraton hotel in Pakistan's largest city Karachi on May 8 last year. The engineers were helping Pakistan's navy build its second Agosta 90-B submarine. Two Pakistanis and the suicide bomber who drove the car were also killed. Police say Zaheer and Bashir have confessed to their role in the May 8 attack. "We dunnit! Now put those down!" Five other militants wanted in the case were declared absconders by the court on February 24, after police declared they had failed to find them. Among the five absconders is a militant believed to be the mastermind of the anti-Western violence that has plagued Karachi since the US-led campaign was launched in Afghanistan 17 months ago to crush the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Bashir, who had fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan, told reporters after his arrest that the bomber was a 26-year-old Pakistani named Rashid. Bashir travelled with Rashid in the bomb-laden car towards the Sheraton hotel and stepped out of the car before it reached its target. He said Rashid wanted to "But they were all drinking Starbucks!" A month after the attack another suicide car bomb attack killed 12 Pakistanis including the bomber outside the US consulate. Have a nice trial, boys. |
| Posted by:Seafarious |