RAWALPINDI, March 6: Special Judge Anti-Terrorist Court-II Malik Safdar Hussain Tuesday directed superintendent Adiala Jail to send a responsible person to the court along with complete record on the detention of Rashid Rauf, a British national suspected of plotting to bomb transatlantic flights.
Defence counsel Hashmat Habib maintained that Mr Rauf’s detention period had expired on February 28, and if he was detained under the preventive laws, he should have been produced before the court. Rauf is being detained unlawfully and not allowed to see his relatives and the counsel, he said.
He was responding to a report sent by the jail authorities to the court claiming that the Punjab government had written a letter to the interior ministry on February 7 seeking further extension in Rauf’s detention from the Federal Review Board, as February 28, the expiry date, was drawing nearer.
When the judge asked Senior Public Prosecutor (SPP) Raja Qayyum if the government had extended the detention period of the accused, he expressed his ignorance about any documentary evidence to prove it.
It is pertinent to mention here that Rashid Rauf, 25, was arrested in early August last year. At the time of his arrest, the government had claimed that his detention had led to the uncovering of a conspiracy to blow up transatlantic airliners and that he was linked to Al Qaeda. Other charges against him were impersonation, carrying a fake identity card and fake documents.
