KARACHI, July 21: The Sindh High Court on Wednesday set aside the conviction awarded to six persons by a trial court in a Jehad donation case and ordered their release forthwith if not involved in other cases.

Farrukh Nafis, Salman Khan, Noman, Khalid Raza, Abdul Salam and Shakirullah were convicted by the anti-terrorism court Karachi on charge of collecting donations in the name of Jehad despite a ban in March this year.

Police arrested them from Gulshan-i-Iqbal area on Nov 23, 2003, outside Sadiq-i-Akbar and Quba mosques in Gulshan-i-Iqbal. The appellants denied the allegations levelled against them and stated that the police implicated them in the said case.

They claimed that they were affiliated to Mujahideen group "Al-Badar" and submitted that they have nothing to do with the banned organizations, nor they have obtained donation in name of these outfits. They submitted that, in fact, they were arrested by police from the office of Al-Badar in Gulshan-i-Iqbal area Karachi.

AAG Habib Ahmed supported the trial court order. SHC division bench, comprising Justice Mohammad Mujibullah Siddiqui and Justice Muhammad Afzal Soomro, after hearing arguments, for reasons to be recorded later, allowed the appeals and set aside the conviction awarded to appellants by the trial court. -PPI