PESHAWAR, Jan 14: An anti-terrorism court on Wednesday remanded an activist of the banned Hizbut Tehrir, Mahboob Shah, in police custody for five days.

Mr Shah, a United Kingdom national, was arrested from his house in Hayatabad on Tuesday and produced before the court presided over byAkhtar Zareef Khan on Wednesday.

The police claimed that his organization was banned by the government under the Anti-Terrorism Act but the accused was distributing anti-state literature, including pamphlets against President Gen Pervez Musharraf.

The police had registered a case against the accused under sections sight, nine and 11 of the Anti-Terrorism Act. The organization's spokesman Tanveer Butt, at a press conference, condemned the arrest of the activist for selling "Islamic literature".