PESHAWAR, April 28: A local court on Friday dismissed bail petitions of 10 foreigners, including two Tajik boys, arrested on charges of illegally staying in the country.

The court of judicial magistrate Malik Amjid Raheem observed that under the Foreigners Act they were not entitled to bail.

The court observed that the petitioners did not produce any legal documents to justify their stay the country.

Security agencies had handed over the foreigners to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on April 18. The FIA had registered FIRs against them under section 14 of the Foreigners Act, 1946, and charged them for illegal stay in Pakistan.

They were produced before the court on April 20 and sent to Peshawar central prison on the orders of the magistrate.

The Egyptian petitioners are: Engineer Farooq bin Saad; his wife Fatima; his sons Abdur Rehman, Obaid and Abdullah; and daughters Aasia, Barah and Khadija. Farooq and one of his daughters are suffering from blindness. The two Tajik boys — Said Akber alias Hussain and Khalid Maroof — were arrested by the Pakistan Army in South Waziristan Agency in 2004.

The petition was filed by the president of Peshawar District Bar Association, Haji Fida Gul.

The Egyptian family was arrested from a residence in Dwa Sarae village of the Charsadda district on May 23, 2005 by an intelligence agency. It was reported that the family had links with Al Qaeda.

Fida Gul contended that the petitioners were innocent and had been falsely implicated in the case. He argued that at the time of arrest the family was not even allowed to collect necessary luggage and documents.

He prayed before the court that the family may be released on bail following which they would produce their documents. He added that they had no relatives who could pursue their case and look for their documents. Four of the eight Egyptians were juveniles and they should be extended the benefit of bail.

About the Tajik boys, he argued that they were also arrested about two years ago by the Army and were kept in illegal detention. He added that they juveniles and could not be charged under the Foreigners Act.

The Egyptians have claimed that the head of the family, Farooq, was an engineer and was working with Al Fanoon-i-Taskeliya in Egypt. They claimed that during the Afghan war their father came to Pakistan about 19 years ago and started working with an NGO.

The two Tajik boys, Hussain and Khalid, who were 12 and 15 years old at the time of arrest, were initially accused of being Al Qaeda members.

They belonged to Urjinzabad area of Tajikistan. Their arrests were made public by army authorities at a press briefing and were produced before the media on Nov 25, 2004.

They were arrested in Sarwekai area of the South Waziristan Agency when a landmine killed four local students and left two others injured. Security forces claimed that they belonged to hordes of foreign militants waging a bloody fight against Pakistan.