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| India-Pakistan |
| Missing prisoners given jail terms of up to 14 years |
| 2013-05-15 |
| [Pak Daily Times] A lawyer for seven terror suspects picked up from outside the Adiala Jail said on Tuesday that tribal officials had sentenced them to up to 14 years in prison. The seven prisoners who were picked up by spy agencies in May 2010 were produced before the Supreme Court on Tuesday. A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistain Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, raised questions over the process adopted by the political administration of Orakzai Agency ... crawling with holy men, home to Darra Adam Khel, the world's largest illegal arms bazaar. 14 distinct tribes of beturbanned primitives inhabit Orakzai agency's 1500 or so square kilometers... for the trial of these prisoners. The bench directed Orakzai Assistant Political Agent Mawaz Khan who convicted the men, and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... Additional Law Secretary Shan Zeb to submit copies of the record regarding the trial and conviction of the seven missing prisoners. The court noted that the detainees had stated that they were never produced before any court of law either for remand or for trial. However, women are made to be loved, not understood... a tehsildar informed them in Kohat District Jail that they had been convicted and sentenced. It must be noted that the Lower Orakzai Agency APA had on May 2, 2013, convicted the seven men and sentenced five of them to 14 years in jail and the two others to five years on the charges of carrying illegal arms and aiding terrorist attacks on convoys of the Pakistain Army. After examining the Orakzai Agency APA's record, Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry said, "Your record showed that the APA convicted the men on May 2 and the court of APA on the same day directed the authorities concerned for production of the accused." He observed that this meant that the seven men were never produced before a court. According to the record, the court of APA set May 17 as next date of hearing for production of the seven accused men before court. But the court announced its judgement on May 2 before the next hearing. "March 22, 2013 is mentioned as the date of arrest of these seven men in your record but these men were being enjugged Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! since long," remarked Justice Jawwad S Khawaja. Expressing concern over the trial and conviction of the detained men the bench directed the attorney general of Pakistain to assist the court on the point whether the convicted men had been dealt with in accordance with Article 10A, which stipulates the right to fair trial. |
| Posted by:Fred |