ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani nationals who spent six years in Spanish jail on the charges of terrorism on Thursday appealed to the government of Pakistan to play its role for the retrial of their case.

Jan Khan, a UK-based legal consultant, told mediapersons at the National Press Club that 10 Pakistanis and one Indian national were convicted of hatching a plot to bomb the Barcelona subway system in 2008. Nine of the Pakistanis and the Indian have been released after completion of the six-year imprisonment but one Pakistani, Maroof Ahmed Mirza, is still in a jail in Spain because he was sentenced to eight-and-a-half-year in jail.

Mr Jan said he had been told that during the hearing of the case the justice system of the country was not followed properly.

“I was shocked to know that though the Spanish government provided a solicitor to the suspects, he never bothered to record their statements. In fact, the solicitor met the suspects only once that too for 15 minutes,” he said.

UK-based lawyer says law was not followed against 10 Pakistanis in the subway bombing plot case

“I visited Spain many times and also wrote to the European Union and the British government to look into the issue. Moreover, I have written letters to the Pakistani foreign office, the Supreme Court and human rights organisations to raise the issue.”

He said he had reached the conclusion that all the people were jailed because of one Pakistani, Malik Asim Iqbal, who became a protective witness and was still living in Spain. According to information available on the website of the FIA, Malik Asim was involved in human trafficking and his name was in the red book of the FIA,” he said.

“Malik Asim claimed that he got training from Baitullah Mehsud and recognised all the Pakistanis and the Indian as terrorists,” he said.

Aqeel Abbasi, one of the Pakistanis who spent six years in jail in Spain, told Dawn that in 2007 he went to Holland for study.

“In Holland, I learnt that there were more job opportunities in Spain and if a person gets himself registered in Spain he is given a work permit after two years. So in 2008, I went to Spain and after registering myself returned to Holland,” he said.

“After a few months, I was arrested by the Holland police. I learnt that the Spanish government had informed the police that I wanted to carry out a terrorist activity in Holland. I spent 17 days in jail after which the police declared me innocent and released me,” he said.

“But later, the Spanish government got me arrested through Interpol and shifted me to Spain. There, I learnt that my registration documents in Spain were found from the house of a suspect. Though an interpreter was provided to us, we could not understand anything and in the end were informed that we had to go to jail,” he said.

“Though I have completed my punishment, I request the government to get my case retried because I was not involved with any terrorist group,” he said.

Another Pakistani, Khalid Mehmood, said he wanted the government to take up the matter and reopen the case because he and the other Pakistanis wanted to prove that they were innocent.

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2014