A Pakistani court on Thursday ordered the release on bail of two doctors accused of helping injured Al Qaeda militants and local extremists, court officials said. Heart specialist Akmal Waheed and his brother, orthopaedic surgeon Arshad Waheed, were seized in July in Karachi for alleged ties to Osama bin Laden's network and to a group accused of a deadly attack on a top army general's convoy. The provincial high court in Karachi told the pair to deposit their passports to prevent them fleeing the country, public prosecutor Habib Ahmed told AFP.
"We have opposed their release, but the court ordered their release on bail, if not required in any other case," Ahmed said. The brothers face charges of providing medical aid to militants from the Al Qaeda-linked group Jund Allah, or Army of God, which was blamed for the attack on Lieutenant General Ahsan Saleem Hayat in June. Police said the doctors had also provided medical treatment to two foreign Al Qaeda operatives, Abu Hashim and Abu Mussab. The doctors' bail application had been rejected in October by the anti-terrorism court hearing their case, but they filed an appeal against the decision with the high court of southern Sindh province. Akmal Waheed's wife Fouzia, also a doctor, has denied her husband was involved in any terrorist activities.
| Well, that settles it for me... |
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