KARACHI: SHC rejects apologies by prison authorities
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, April 23: The Sindh High Court on Wednesday rejected apologies tendered by the Karachi central prison superintendent and deputy superintendent and summoned them on April 30 to indict and prosecute them under the Contempt of Court Act.
The order was passed by a division bench, comprising Justices Sabihuddin Ahmed and S. Ali Aslam Jafri, on a contempt application moved by Nadir Hasan following the jail officials’ refusal to release his son, Haris Hasan, on April 16 in disregard of a court order.
Nadir, Haris and members of their family, who had lived in the US as naturalized citizens since 1980s, returned to Pakistan earlier this year and renounced their American nationality.
The US embassy in Islamabad sought Haris Hasan’s extradition as, according to the Michigan state authorities, he raped a girl in Detroit several times and beat up her boyfriend.
He allegedly returned to Pakistan and renounced his citizenship to escape any criminal liability.
A preliminary inquiry was instituted by the interior ministry under the Extradition Act to ascertain whether Haris Hasan was prima facie guilty of the offences he had been charged with by the US authorities. The inquiry was assigned to judicial magistrate Sadaf Arif, who exonerated him on April 14 for lack of evidence.
Nadir Hasan, who had already approached the Sindh High Court for his release on account of the prolonged inquiry proceedings, pressed for his immediate release after his exoneration.
Justices Ahmed and Jafri, who constituted the bench seized of the petition, ordered the jail authorities to free Haris Hasan if he was not required in any other case.
When Nadir Hasan delivered the court order to central prison superintendent Rashid Saeed and deputy superintendent Kazi Nazeer on April 16 evening, they said according to a home department notification issued to them, Haris Hasan had been detained for another three months under the Foreigners Act. Nadir Hasan moved a contempt petition against the jail officials and the bench asked the alleged contemners to appear in person on April 23 and show cause why they should not be tried for contempt of court.
Rashid Saeed and Kazi Nazeer appeared before the bench on Wednesday and tendered their “unqualified and unconditional” apologies.
In their replies to show-cause notices submitted by them through their counsel, Advocates Raja Qureshi and Raza Hashmi, the officials, however, tried to justify their conduct by saying that they were under instructions from the home department that foreigners should not be released immediately on their acquittal and exoneration as they were to be deported to the countries of their origin ultimately.
Haris Hasan, having been held under the Foreigners Act as a naturalized citizen of the US, could not be set at liberty. Relevant notifications were placed before the bench.
The bench observed that the apologies were not acceptable and fixed April 30 for framing of charges against the accused.
Deputy Attorney-General Azhar Nadeem Siddiqui appeared for the federal government, Additional Advocate-General Sarwar Khan for the provincial government and Advocate Syed Saeeduddin Nasir for the petitioner. The contempt case would, under the rules, be prosecuted by the advocate-general.
