ISLAMABAD, April 7: The Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi Bench, on Thursday issued notice to the federal government on the appeal of an Al Qaeda suspect seeking $10.4 million compensation for his detention in Guantanamo Bay. A division bench, comprising Justice Rustam Ali Malik and Justice Sardar Mohammad Aslam, was hearing the appeal of Mohammad Sagheer.

Earlier, the petitioner had moved the damages suit before a civil court in Islamabad against the US government through US secretaries of state, defence and law and justice for undergoing mental torture, financial loss, physical and religious victimization for a year during ‘unlawful’ detention by the respondent.

The civil court had dismissed the damages suit on the grounds that it revolved around Afghanistan and the petitioner was not arrested and detained by the Pakistan government. It may be recalled that Sagheer had gone to Northern Afghanistan with a 10-member delegation for routine preaching during the month of Ramazan in 2001. He was arrested by Kunduz area commander Gen Dostum of Northern Alliance.

Later, he was shifted to Shiberghan from Mazar-i-Sharif in containers during which more than 50 inmates out of 20,000 died due to suffocation, lack of food, water and medical aid.

He was then shifted to Guantanamo Bay (Cuba), and was put in solitary confinement and later released at the Peshawar airport on November 4, and given $100 with a promise that $200 more were coming. However the promise was never fulfilled.