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| September 18, 2005 | Sunday | Sha'aban 13, 1426 |
Court refuses to release Zeeshan
PESHAWAR, Sept 17: A local court on Saturday refused to release Zeeshan Siddiqui on bail. Mr Zeeshan is a British national suspected of involvement in the July 7 London bombings and facing a case of illegal stay in Pakistan. “The offences falling under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act 1946, are not bailable,” pronounced Judicial Magistrate Mohsin Ali Turk.
The court dismissed an application filed by human rights activist, Ms Mussarat Hilali, on behalf of Mr Siddiqui, requesting the court to include Section 14 of the Foreigners Act in his order pronounced on Sept 10, 2005, whereby bail was granted to the applicant.
His counsel told Dawn that against the present order, she would file a petition before the district and sessions judge.
The Crimes Investigation Department (CID) had arrested Mr Siddiqui from Shabqadar in Charssada district and an FIR was registered against him on May 18, under sections 419, 420, 468 and 471 of the Pakistan Penal Code, dealing with forgery and impersonation, read with Section 14 of the Foreigners Act.
He was charged with possessing a forged Pakistani identity card and illegal stay in Pakistan.
On Sept 10, 2005, the court had accepted bail petition of Mr Siddiqui and pronounced that he should be freed after furnishing two sureties of Rs50,000 each.
His case took a twist when his counsel found out that the court had mentioned sections of the PPC in its order, but Section 14 of the Foreigners Act had not been mentioned.
Under the legal procedure, the prison authority does not release a prisoner unless all sections, in which he is charged in the FIR, are mentioned in the release order.
Keeping in view this technical point, Mr Siddiqui’s counsel filed an application seeking inclusion of Section 14. However, the court observed that she should argue whether Section 14 of Foreigners Act was bailable or not.
Ms Hilali contended that the court had already accepted the bail application and the only thing now to do was to include the said section in that order. She said that Section 14 of the Foreigners Act was bailable.
Additional Public Prosecutor Attique Khan argued that after inclusion of Section 14-A in the Foreigners Act in 2000, the offence is non-bailable.
The court, he said, could order deportation of the accused, but could not release him on bail.
Ms Hilali rebutted his contention and argued that Section 14-A pertained to offences falling under Section 14(2) dealing with the offence of illegal entry into Pakistan, whereas Mr Siddiqui had entered Pakistan in a legal manner. She contended that as his parents were Pakistani, therefore, the only thing he needed was his registration here.
Ms Hilali argued that the court had already granted bail to the applicant. It would be strange if the presiding officer pronounced that the bail had been granted in the sections of the PPC and not in Section 14 of the Foreigners Act.
Finally, the court dismissed the application. After the dismissal, the bail granted to the accused on Sept 10, 2005, has lost its importance as he could not be released from the prison now.
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