PESHAWAR, March 15: The Frontier Crimes Regulation commissioner on Thursday granted bail to an Afghan national imprisoned under the law and directed the government to deport him.

The Commissioner, Jalat Khan, ordered that the accused, Akber Jan, should be released after furnishing two sureties of Rs100,000 each and deported to Afghanistan.

The accused had challenged an order of the Kurram Agency assistant political agent under which he had been sent to prison for three years.

Under the FCR, an appeal against an order of the administration can be filed before the commissioner. A revision petition can be filed against an order of the commissioner before the FCR tribunal comprising the home and law secretaries.

Advocate Arbab Fakhre Alam appeared for the accused and contended that he had been falsely implicated in the case. He contended that the accused had been arrested by the Tall Scouts at Bata checkpoint in Kurram Agency while coming from Afghanistan on June 14, 2006.

He stated that the scouts handed Mr Jan over to the tribal administration, claiming that he was carrying hand grenades. He said that from Aug 1 till Aug 7, 2006, the accused remained in the custody of the Crimes Investigation Department and later he was handed over to a joint investigation team comprising officers from different intelligence agencies.

Mr Alam argued that the team had cleared him of the charges of terrorism and returned him to the tribal administration. Instead of releasing him, he stated, the administration convicted him under Section 40 of the FCR without a trial. He argued that the accused had been imprisoned without any charge.