ISLAMABAD, March 21: The district and sessions judge, Islamabad, on Saturday removed the names of two newsmen from the list of prosecution witnesses in the sedition case against Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy President Makhdoom Javed Hashmi.

Judge Asad Raza allowed the prosecution, on its request, to withdraw the testimonies of Mazhar Iqbal and Izaz Hussain, and adjourned the in-camera proceedings in the Adiyala Jail till March 27.

Defence counsel Naeem Gondal told Dawn that the defence cross-examined three prosecution witnesses: Lt-Col Khalid Mehmood Raja, general manager, control, army press; Inspector Shaukat Ali, handwriting expert of the Federal Investigation Agency; and Judicial Magistrate Amir Saleem Rana.

He said the judicial magistrate was cross-examined because he had recorded the statements of the two journalists without issuing any notice to the accused. After recording the evidence, the statements were sealed by the judicial magistrate and later unsealed and presented before the court.

He said Lt-Col Raja stated that the monogram of the armed forces on the letterhead, which Makhdoom Hashmi had shown at a press conference, was forged and did not match the one used by the army press.

After the completion of the cross-examination of the prosecution witnesses, a new list of defence witnesses, consisting of 20 names, would be presented before the court, Mr Gondal said.