PESHAWAR, Jan 11: The high court here on Tuesday directed the officials of the central prison and local police to release a would-be suicide bomber and hand him over to his family, as he had completed his prison term.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and Justice Sardar Shaukat Hayat disposed of a writ petition filed by the teenaged would-be bomber, Mir Janan, who apprehended that the intelligence agencies could pick him up from the prison and he might fall prey to extrajudicial killing.

The petitioner was convicted by an anti-terrorism court on Sept 29, 2010 in a case of an attempt to carry out a suicide attack at Nowshera Cantonment. He was also given the benefit of section 382-B of the Code of Criminal Procedure under which the period of detention of a convict before his conviction has to be included in his prison term.

Advocate Sahibzada Riazatul Haq appeared for the petitioner and contended that he was arrested on Sept 8, 2008 in Nowshera and after completion of his trial he was convicted by the court. He stated that the petitioner had already completed his prison term, but they had the information that personnel of intelligence agencies would pick him up once he was set free.

The bench directed the local police and prison authorities to make sure that the freed prisoner was handed over to his family members and not to any intelligence agency. It was observed that no illegal or unconstitutional step should be taken by the authorities in this regard.

The petitioner is a resident of Makeen area of South Waziristan. He was arrested by some army personnel and was charged with wearing a suicide vest containing 10 to 15kg explosive and was also carrying a hand grenade. Later, he was handed over to the police.

During investigation, he had claimed that he belonged to Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan. He stated that he was brought to the area by another person named Taimur on a motorbike and was left there for carrying out the suicide attack. Although his counsel during trial claimed that he was a juvenile offender as at the time of occurrence he was 16, but the said point was not pressed during trial.

Meanwhile, an official of the central prison on Tuesday expressed ignorance regarding the whereabouts of a prisoner who was acquitted by an anti-terrorism court and he disappeared after he was set free.

Relatives of the alleged detainee, Ziaullah, alleged that he was handed over to the intelligence agencies by the prison authorities. An official of the prison turned up on court notice and informed the bench that the prisoner was released after his acquittal.

Deputy Attorney General Muhammad Iqbal Mohmand appeared for the state and sought time for getting information about the alleged detainee.

A two-member bench headed by Chief Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan allowed him more time for tracing out the alleged detainee.