Court moved against detention orders of acquitted men

ISLAMABAD, April 25: Recently acquitted in two terrorism cases, five men have moved the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday against detention orders issued by federal government to keep them under arrest for 90 days. However, the five identical petitions could not be taken up because of the illness of IHC Chief Justice Iqbal Hameed- ur-Rehman. Wife of Dr Abdul Razzaq of the Railway Hospital, uncle of Faisal Mehmood and brothers of Mohammad Sarfraz, Zeeshan Jalil and Usama bin Waheed have challenged their detention orders, calling them unlawful. The five men along with four others were tried for a suicide attack that killed the army's surgeon general, Mushtaq Baig, in February 2008 and for possessing huge quantity of explosives. They were arrested on January 29, 2009. However, a trial court acquitted the nine men in the suicide attack case but convicted them for carrying explosives last year. This month the Rawalpindi bench of Lahore High Court (LHC) also set aside their conviction in the explosives case. The petitioners through Advocate Basharatullah Khan have cited secretary interior and chief commissioner Islamabad as respondents. They have maintained that earlier the deputy commission Islamabad issued detention orders for one month on March 9 this year. The orders were challenged and the IHC set aside the detention on April 6. On April 13 Islamabad's administration on the recommendation of the interior ministry imposed a 90-day detention for the five men – a day after they were acquitted by the high court. The petitioners have maintained that there was no reason in detaining them as they have been acquitted after long trial and investigation. No justification has been mentioned in the detention order, the petition said. They asked the court to order for their release as no case was pending against them.