LHC upholds 7-year jail for child pornographer

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday dismissed the main appeal and upheld 7 years conviction handed down to a man who is part of an international gang of child pornographers. Justice Farooq Haider dismissed the appeal after hearing arguments of the convict’s counsel and the federal government. On May 14, the same court had suspended Sadaqat Amin's sentence and ordered to release him on bail as he had undergone more than half of his 7-year jail term. However, an outcry broke out on social media against the relief granted to the convicted child pornographer as the decision was widely reported in the press. Therefore, the court fixed the main appeal and decided the same. The court had issued Sadaqat's release order on May 14 on a civil miscellaneous application seeking suspension of the sentence since the main appeal had not been decided by the court. The main appeal was filed two months after the conviction in July 2018 while the application for the suspension of the sentence was filed in June 2019. However, after dismissal of his main appeal, he would not be released from jail till the expiry of his 7-year jail term.

A source in the LHC claimed that the judge had signed the May 14 order of the bail before the social media was filled with criticism, however, the case file was not forwarded to the copy branch to frustrate issuance of Robkar (release order) of the convict till hearing of the main appeal. He said Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmad had also taken notice of bail granted to the pornographer and directed the attorney general office to look into the matter.

Later, Additional Attorney General Ishtiaq A Khan held a meeting with the official concerned of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and went through record of the case. A statement issued by the attorney general office said the federal government would oppose the release of the convict. As the judge resumed hearing of the main appeal on Tuesday, Advocate Rana Nadeem Ahmad appeared on behalf of the convict/appellant and argued that his client was wrongly implicated in a false case. He said the trial court handed down the punishment on the basis of insufficient evidence and faulty investigation. He said the appellant had no video of any alleged victim.

On the other side, Additional-AG Khan argued that the appellant being convicted for the heinous offence was not entitled to any relief. He said the prosecution had successfully proved its case before the trial court and all the evidence was against the convict. He asked the court to dismiss the appeal.

Justice Haider dismissed the criminal revision while the decision on the suspension application stood infructuous.

A judicial magistrate had on April 26, 2018 awarded seven-year imprisonment to Saadat Amin of Sargodha under Section 22 of Prevention of Electronic Crime Act 2016 and also imposed a fine of Rs 1.2 million on him. The Federal Investigation Agency’s Cyber Crime Cell had arrested Amin on the complaint of the Norwegian Embassy during 2017. The prosecution said the convict was an active member of international racket operating online from Pakistan by engaging children having age of 10/12 years and used to transmit their pornographic pictures/videos outside the country against monetary benefit. It said more than 650,000 pictures and videos related to child pornography were recovered from the digital media recovered from the convict’s possession. It said Amin was having hands in gloves with international child pornographers.