Child pornography convict moves apex court

Saadat Amin requests SC to set aside LHC May 19 order

LAHORE:

Saadat Amin, a man convicted for being part of an international child pornography racket, has challenged the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) May 19 order, claiming that the high court did not take into account evidence and witnesses while dismissing appeal against his conviction and sentence.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Cyber Crime Cell had arrested Amin, a resident of Sargodha, in 2017. During the probe, the investigator had found in his possession more than 650,000 items of illegal content in the form of pictures and digital data.

In April 2018, a judicial magistrate sentenced Amin to seven-year imprisonment under section 22 of the Prevention of Electronic Crime Act (Peca) 2016. The judge also imposed on him a fine of Rs1.2 million.

Amin challenged the verdict in the LHC and also applied for a bail. A single-judge LHC bench on May 15 announced to grant him bail against two surety bonds of Rs200,000 each but did not issue formal order.

The Attorney General of Pakistan's (AGP) office later announced to challenge the release order of Saadat Amin. The LHC took up the case again on May 19 and dismissed the appeal against his sentence. The court noted that the culprit will complete his jail term. After this verdict, his bail also became ineffective.

In the appeal filed in the Supreme Court, Amin has said he was not involved in recording any child pornographic video and Peca 2016 is not applicable on him. He has requested the SC to nullify the LHC decision by declaring it illegal.

In 2016, Pakistan criminalised child pornography in a historic first, making the offence punishable with seven years in prison and a fine of Rs0.7 million. The new amendment, titled Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2015, also criminalised child trafficking within the country.

The initiative came after the country was rocked by a major paedophilia scandal in August 2015, when it was revealed that some culprits made and circulated hundreds of pornographic videos of children from Hussain Khanwala village in Kasur district of Punjab province.