PESHAWAR, June 22 A prisoner seeking bail on medical grounds expired last month while awaiting the outcome of his two writ petitions, the Peshawar High Court was told by his counsel on Tuesday.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel disposed of the petitions as these became infructuous after the death of the petitioner, Mutaber Khan. The petitioner was charged in two cases of terrorism registered in the Kabal police station of Swat. According to police, he was a member of the Swat Taliban and a supporter of Maulana Fazlullah.

Mr Mutaber was arrested in injured condition on Aug 22 last year and since then he has been kept in different prisons in Dir and Peshawar. On different occasions, prison doctors had recommended his shifting out of prison for proper treatment.

In October last, the president had promulgated an ordinance whereby the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, was amended and the courts were barred from deciding bail petitions in cases punishable for more than 10 years imprisonment. The ordinance was re-promulgated and it lapsed on May 31 after completion of its constitutional life of four months. After that, dozens of writ petitions were filed in the high court by the accused seeking bail under the constitutional jurisdiction of the court. Mr Mutaber had also filed the two petitions.

When the bench took up for hearing the petitions on Tuesday, petitioner's counsel Advocate Azhar Yousaf Khan said the prisoner had already expired on May 21. Meanwhile, the high court disposed of over a 100 writ petitions filed by people arrested under the Anti-Terrorism Act with the direction to approach the courts concerned for bail.—Bureau Report