ISLAMABAD, Aug 17: Engineer Hayat Noor Khan, the father of detained Al Qaeda suspect Mohammad Naeem Noor Khan, has filed a petition in the Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi bench, seeking protection for his son and an order to stop his possible extradition.

Talking to Dawn at the Pakistan People's Party Secretariat here on Tuesday, Dr Babar Awan, advocate, said that he had filed the petition on behalf of Naeem's father under Articles 4, 9, 10, 25 and 199 of the Constitution read with Section 491-A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

The government claims to have arrested Naeem Noor Khan from Lahore on July 13 on charges of being a computer expert with links to top Al Qaeda leaders.

The government has also lodged a protest with the US government for leaking the name of Mr Khan to the media as he was said to be actively cooperating with Pakistani intelligence agencies to help catch Al Qaeda operatives.