Former serviceman among nine booked for spying

Security institutions have arrested nine people including a former serviceman for allegedly sharing sensitive information with foreign intelligence agencies and booked them under Official Secret Act, 1923.

This transpired when two of the accused – Col (retd) Irfan Hameed Kayani and Ahmed Kayani – moved the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for grant of post arrest bails and the IHC judge, Aamer Farooq, took up their petitions on Friday.

According to the petitions, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) counter terrorism circle lodged the first information report (FIR) under the Official Secret Act, 1923 on May 18 and the names of the two accused were not mention in the FIR.

It said the FIA on the basis of the statement of an accused, Safdar Rehman, later arrested Col (retd) Irfan and Ahmed from their residence on July 13 and also confiscated 39 items including electronic devices.

It said the law enforcing agencies also subjected the accused to torture. The petition of Col (retd) Irfan said he is 69-year old and belongs to a family which has been serving the military for the last five generations. He said the authorities have not even allowed his wife and counsel to meet him so far.

Also read: IHC rejects bail plea of alleged spy

The other accused are Safdar Rehman, Tanzeel Rehman, Muhammad Waqar, Muhammad Ashfaq, Muhammad Tahir, Mujtaba Hussain and Muhammad Ashraf.

During the hearing on Friday, the court also issued notices to the respondents on a governmental request to conduct the hearing of the case in camera. The government contended that it wanted to bring sensitive information to the judicial record.

The Official Secrets Act, 1923 is Pakistan's Anti Espionage Act which was enacted to consolidate and amend the laws relating to official secrets in Pakistan. It extends to the whole of Pakistan and applies also to all citizens of Pakistan and persons in the service of government all over the world.