LHC dismisses appeal in child porn case

Lahore High Court cancels bail granted to convict last week

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday dismissed a review petition of a man who was convicted of child pornography two years ago and canceled the bail granted to him earlier this month.

A single bench led by Justice Farooq Haider heard Saadat Amin’s review petition, seeking suspension of seven-year imprisonment awarded by a court in 2018 under Section 22 of the Prevention of Electronic Crime Act 2016. He was also slapped with Rs1.2 million fine.

Amin, of Sargodha, was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) cyber crime cell on a complaint by the Norwegian embassy in 2017. More than 650,000 pictures and videos related to child pornography were recovered from his possession.

Last week, Justice Farooq Haider, through a verbal order, had suspended the sentence and allowed the release of the convict on bail against two surety bonds of Rs200,000 each.



However, the order generated outcry on social media. Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed also took notice of the decision, while the federal government announced to challenge the ruling.

Though the standard operating procedures (SOPs) adopted by the LHC in the wake of coronavirus pandemic suggest that the court would take up only urgent matters, yet the bench fixed the main case – the review appeal – for hearing on Tuesday.

As the proceedings commenced, lawyer Rana Nadeem Ahmed implored the court that he was not permitted by his client to argue in this court that had decided his bail matter. He requested the court to detach itself from this matter as it had decided on the bail matter.

Another lawyer for the convict also appeared before the bench and requested the court to sustain the bail order. He argued that the convict had been implicated in a forged case. Additional Attorney General Ishtiaq A Khan strongly opposed the review appeal.

The judge, later, sustained the conviction order and dismissed the revision appeal and canceled the bail order. The convict will now serve his complete seven-year sentence behind bars.

At the trial court, the prosecution said the convict was an active member of an international network operating online from Pakistan. It said that Amin had links to international child pornographers in Sweden and other countries and transmitted pornographic pictures and videos of children of 10-12 years of age outside the country for monetary benefits.