A Pak anti-terrorism court freed on Saturday four men accused of involvement in the 2010 Times Square bomb plot, said a lawyer and family members of the men.The men were placed in durance vile
Please don't kill me!
in the wake of the May 2010 incident during which Pak-American Faisal Shahzad drove an SUV packed with a bomb into Times Square. The bomb produced smoke but no kaboom.
Lawyer Malik Imran Safdar said Saturday that the prosecution failed to prove its case against his clients. The men were released on Saturday evening after the court in Rawalpindi, next to the capital of Islamabad, acquitted them.
The father of one of the men, Humbal Akhtar, said he was ecstatic at his son's release.
"I have suffered a lot during these two tough years," said Muhammed Akhtar. "Finally I got justice."
In addition to Akhtar, the court released Muhammad Shoaib Mughal, Muhammad Shahid Husain, and Faisal Abbasi. The men were picked up by Pak security officials in the wake of the 2010 incident, and few details of their case have emerged over the two years of their detention.
They were tried by a Pak anti-terrorism court, which are generally off limits to the press or other outsiders.
Terrorism cases in Pakistain rarely result in convictions or prison sentences. Police often lack basic investigative skills, prosecutors lack training in terror cases and judges and witnesses are often subject to intimidation.
Pak security officials have also been accused by human rights
...which often include carefully measured allowances of
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groups of holding suspects for months, even years without filing charges or divulging any information about their cases.
Two other men placed in durance vile
Please don't kill me!
by Pakistain in the wake of the Times Square incident were previously released.
The US has long pressed Pakistain to crack down on cut-throats within its borders, both militarily and through the courts.