LHC orders meeting of released prisoners with families

LAHORE - Justice Khalid Mahmood Khan of the Lahore High Court on Tuesday directed the Ministry of Interior to arrange a meeting of the Pakistani citizens recently released from infamous Bagram Internment Camp, Afghanistan, with their families within 10 days.
The court was hearing a petition filed by Justice Project Pakistan (JPP) for the release of the Pakistani citizens detained at Bagram jail. The released detainees are Awal Noor, Bismillah Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Paizoo Khan, Farman Shah, Abdus Sattar, Shah Khalid, Wajid Rehman and Rehmatullah, Sallah Muhammad (Yunus Rehmatullah).  At least 25 Pakistani citizens had been detained at Bagram jail without any charge or trial since 2003. They were allegedly abducted from Pakistan and removed to the infamous US prison in Afghanistan. In another case, a division bench of the Lahore High Court on Tuesday ruled that the National Accountability Bureau could not recover markup on the fine imposed by a trial court on a convict.  Advocate Azhar Siddique represented the petitioner and argued that the NAB ordinance empowered the accountability court to impose fine, but not markup, on a convict. He said the petitioner was willing to deposit the original fine amount. Further proceedings were adjourned till May 27. The court also suspended an order passed by an accountability court. The trial court had convicted Shahbaz Chaudhry for 14 years in jail besides imposing a fine of over Rs 90 million on him. The court had also directed the NAB to recover the fine amount from the convict along with markup. The convict had challenged the order for being contrary to various provisions of the Constitution.

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