PESHAWAR, June 9: An elderly Palestinian, Yousaf Bin Yousaf, was released on Wednesday from the Peshawar central prison on the orders of the Peshawar High Court. Mr Yousaf, who has remained in different prisons for many years, was handed over to former MNA Javed Ibraheem Paracha who has been contesting his case in the high court.

After his release, Mr Yousaf was admitted to the private Al-Khidmat Hospital.

The visit of Mr Yousaf to Pakistan is shrouded in mystery as he claimed on various occasions in the court that he had come to Pakistan on the invitation of Lt Gen (retd) Hamid Gul when he was chief of the ISI.

A few years ago he was arrested in a tribal area under section 14 of the Foreigners Act and section 40 of the Frontier Crimes Regulations for illegal stay in Pakistan. Two years ago a writ petition was filed by Mr Paracha for the deportation of 11 foreigners, mostly Arabs including Mr Yousaf.

Mr Paracha assured the court that he would provide for the air tickets of these foreigners as they were in illegal detention in Pakistan. Some of the 11 detainees were deported.