ISLAMABAD, Nov 25: The family of British terror suspect Rashid Rauf is preparing to move higher judiciary to secure custody of his body if he has been killed in a recent US missile attack.

Lawyer Hashmat Habib claimed that Rashid Rauf was alive and the report about his death was false.

“The family of Rashid Rauf has contacted me. We are preparing a petition against the government and will file it in the Islamabad High Court seeking that Rashid’s body be handed over to his relatives,” Mr Habib told Dawn on Tuesday.

He contradicted an earlier claim made by the government that Rashid Rauf had escaped from police custody and called it a ‘mysterious disappearance’. He said that Rashid had not escaped and he never reached his home.

Rashid disappeared in Dec 2007 when he was being taken from Adiala Jail to district courts in Islamabad by a police party.

The government claimed he had escaped from police custody but his lawyer and family said it was a case of forced disappearance.