The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday summoned the superintendent of Hyderabad central jail to explain why a man acquitted of the murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl has not yet been released.
An anti-terrorism court had acquitted suspect Syed Qari Hashim Shah on October 23, 2014. However, the jail authorities detained him for 90 days under the Maintenance of Public Order ordinance.
After the detention, Qari’s brother Syed Khalid Imran Shah filed a petition for his release in the SHC Hyderabad circuit bench, which issued notices to the respondents on January 27. During Tuesday’s hearing, advocate-general Allah Bachayo Soomro said Qari had been freed from prison. However, he failed to produce any documentary evidence of the release.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 5th, 2015.