ISLAMABAD, July 26: A woman who was acquitted by a military court last August of involvement in an assassination attempt on the life of President Gen Pervez Musharraf is still incarcerated with her suckling son in a cell of the Adiyala jail, Rawalpindi.
Shazia Mubashir was arrested at Bahawalpur five days after the attack on Dec 25, 2003, but the Field General Court Martial (FGCM) acquitted her on July 21, 2005.
Hashmat Habib, the counsel for Ms Mubashir, said he had served a notice on Adiyala SSP Tariq Babar on behalf of her father, saying that the police by ‘misconstruing’ the law were still detaining her in solitary confinement.
Shazia Mubashir is the wife of Rana Navid, an employee of the Zarai Taraqiati Bank who had been awarded capital punishment by the military court of appeal, the lawyer said. His appeal has been admitted by the Supreme Court after granting leave to appeal.
After her acquittal of the sedition charges, Ms Mubashir was handed over to the Civil Lines police for release. Instead of facilitating her release, the police approached Special Judge Anti-Terrorism Court No 1 on August 24, 2005 seeking further remand of the woman on the same FIR in which the FGCM had acquitted her.
Since then the 14-day remand is being repeated.
The lawyer said Ms Mubashir was being kept in inhuman condition and she was denied all legal rights to which under-trial prisoners are entitled. She has been kept in isolation as a condemned prisoner and is not allowed to receive visitors. She is allowed only an hour’s walk a day and her health has deteriorated.
Through the notice, the SSP has been asked to justify her detention and frequent extension in remand in violation of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Mr Habib said the SSP was required to submit his reply in five days.
