ISLAMABAD, Nov 22: The wife and other close family members of London bombing suspect Rashid Rauf have appealed to the government to release him as all the courts had exonerated him from the charges.

Speaking at a press conference here on Thursday, they feared that the government planned to implicate him in fabricated cases in order to pave the way for his extradition to Britain.

They said the whole family had been passing through extreme agony due to what they said the illegal detention of Rashid Rauf for the last one-and-a-half years.

The family, including his wife, two children, relatives, as well as neighbours said all of them were greatly disturbed due to his detention. They claimed that he was innocent and could not even think of plotting a bombing. That was the reason no accusations could be proved against him, they said.

Narrating the story, they said Rashid came to Pakistan in 2002 to preach Islam and get religious education. He took admission in a seminary in Multan. He married in 2003 and had two children. Then, he started living in Bahawalpur. Hailing from a business family, he also planned to start some business in Pakistan.

In 2006, he was travelling from Multan to Bahawalpur when he was taken into custody by agencies. Since then he has been kept in detention and being shifted from one jail to another. False cases were registered against him. When they approached the court, he was produced in anti-terrorism court which exonerated him from terrorism charges, his wife Saira said.

Later on, the government said he had been detained under the Security Act 1952. This was challenged in the Supreme Court which also found him innocent and ordered his release. But even then he was not released.

The government wanted to take advantage of the emergency and hand over him to Britain to have its view on emergency softened, Rashid Rauf’s lawyer, Hashmat Habib said. He said that after exoneration by the courts the continued detention was more a human rights issue.

The lawyer and family members demanded of the government especially the caretaker ministers for law, justice and human rights to intervene in the matter and stop the handing over to the UK.