Blacklisted US citizen’s deportation cleared

Bail pleas of FIA sub-inspector Raja Asif Raza and constable Ehteshamul Haq accepted

RAWALPINDI: A special court has endorsed a plan to deport blacklisted American national Matthew Craig Barrett from the country 12 days after the man was arrested at Islamabad airport.

Barrett, 33, was expelled from the country in 2011 after being found near a sensitive military installation. He had earlier lived in Pakistan for four years, married a Pakistani woman and had two children.



FIA Inspector Rana Muhammad Akram appeared before the court and presented the original notification of the interior ministry regarding deportation of Barrett from the country.

The court after hearing the arguments allowed his expulsion.

The FIA is to oversee Barrett’s release from Adiala Jail and deport him.

Special Judge Central Naeem Arshad also accepted the bail petitions of FIA sub-inspector Raja Asif Raza and his son constable Ehteshamul Haq and directed each of them to furnish surety bonds worth Rs100, 000.

FIA investigators informed the court that they did not find any evidence of kickbacks or bribes being obtained either by Asif or Ehtesham to clear Barrett’s entry into the country.



They; however, opposed their bail pleas, saying the investigation had established negligence on the part of the two FIA officials who were on duty when Barrett was cleared by the immigration desk at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport.

Arguing on behalf of the father and son, Advocate Raja Muhammad Nazeer said Barrett’s entry into Pakistan was not the first case of a blacklisted individual entering the country.

According to him, a least five such cases have been unearthed by the FIA during the last two months.

Nazeer argued that Barrett’s entry was not a result of negligence but owing to systematic flaws.

He pointed out that the FIA’s immigration department had time and again apprised their bosses of the flaws in the system, yet no action had been taken to correct them.



The lawyer maintained that it was discriminatory on the part of the federal government to prosecute his clients and not take action against senior immigration officials who were responsible for a flawed system.

The federal government, according to him, did not have the courage to prosecute the detained US national. He said Barrett committed a crime, but the FIA was bent upon penalising his clients only.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 19^th, 2016.