October 11, 2007	Thursday	Ramazan 28, 1428

RAWALPINDI, Oct 10: An anti-terrorism court here on Wednesday rejected the bail application of a British-Pakistani arrested in connection with a plot to bomb trans-Atlantic airliners in London.

In the bail plea to the special judge Sakhi Mohammad Kahot, Rashid Rauf’s lawyer had contended that he was not arrested from the jurisdiction of the Airport police as claimed by the police but was picked up from Bahawalpur.

He said the charges of impersonation, cheating and carrying 29 bottles of hydrogen peroxide against his client were bailable.

Public Prosecutor Raja Abdul Qayyum said the accused had confessed during police investigation to conspiring to make bombs and was involved in the plot to bomb the trans-Atlantic flights.

Arrested on August 10, 2006, Rashid Rauf was tried in the ATC that acquitted him of terrorism charges in December 2006. The verdict was, however, suspended by the Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench after Punjab government challenged it.

LAL MASJID CASES: The anti-terrorism court No 1 deferred hearing in 11 cases related to the Lal Masjid events as the prosecution lawyers did not turn up in the court.

The hearing in bail applications of former administrator of Jamia Fareedia Maulana Abdul Qayyum and Dost Mohammad Mazari was put off till October 11 by the judge, Habibur Rehman.

The two men are charged with kidnapping Chinese nationals and some police personnel and killing a Rangers man.

The bail applications of Maulana Aziz in eight cases were moved in the ATC 1 on Wednesday by his lawyer Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui. The cases were recently shifted to the ATC after the prosecution added terrorism charges to them.

These cases mainly pertained to distribution of hate material, delivery of provocative speeches against the government and creating law and order situation.