PHC acquits suspected militant

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Monday acquitted a suspected militant of terrorism charges who had been sentenced to 11 years by an anti-terrorism court. A division bench comprising Justice Muhammad Ibrahim Khan and Justice Nasir Mehfooz acquitted the convict Raees after hearing the arguments from both sides.

During hearing, Sahibzada Asadullah, counsel for the appellant, submitted that as per the first information report, the officials of Counter-Terrorism Department Malakand on January 15, 2016 arrested the appellant (Raees) and recovered hand-grenades and arms from his possession. He submitted the CTD booked the convict on the charges of terrorism. He said the anti-terrorism court awarded him 11 years sentence.

However, the lawyer pointed out several important law points, which, he believed, were ignored by the prosecution. He said that his client belonged to a tribal area and was wrongly implicated in the case. However, the state lawyer defended the sentence and submitted that the CTD had arrested the accused and recovered weapons from his possession.