Tirah protest leader freed, terror charges dismissed

K-P’s ATC decision comes after Zahid Afridi’s lawyer argues that charges are politically motivated

A special Anti‑Terrorism Court in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has approved bail for Mohammad Zahid Afridi, a local political leader and head of the Bara Political Alliance and Jamaat‑e‑Islami Youth Wing Tirah, in a terrorism case, court officials said.

Judge Fareed Khan Alizai of the Anti‑Terrorism Court (ATC) heard Afridi’s bail petition and ordered that he be released on bail after the arguments were completed. Afridi was arrested on December 24 and has been in custody since then.

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Afridi’s lawyer, Farhad Afridi, told the court that his client had been leading a peaceful sit‑in in the Tirah plains for seven months in support of peace and local grievances. The defence argued that the terrorism charges against Afridi, which include alleged incitement against the state and state institutions, were baseless and politically motivated and that there was no concrete evidence to justify his continued detention.

Local social media posts previously reported that Afridi was taken into custody by police in Tirah, a tribal area where tensions have been ongoing amid protests and demands from local political groups for peace, among other local grievances.

https://www.facebook.com/islam.offical.397932/videos/%D8%A8%D8%A7%DA%91%DB%81-%D8%B3%DB%8C%D8%A7%D8%B3%DB%8C-%D8%A7%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%AF-%D9%85%D8%B4%D8%B1-%DA%BE%D8%A7%D8%B4%D9%85-%D8%A2%D9%81%D8%B1%DB%8C%D8%AF%DB%8C-%D8%A7%D9%88%D8%B1-%D8%AE%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%88%D9%84%DB%8C-%D8%A2%D9%81%D8%B1%DB%8C%D8%AF%DB%8C-%D8%AA%DB%8C%D8%B1%D8%A7%DB%81-%D9%85%DB%8C%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%86-%DA%A9%DB%92-%D8%AD%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%BE%D8%B1-%DA%AF%D9%81%D8%AA%DA%AF/1354460025911017/

The case comes amid the backdrop of the Pashtun National Jirga organised by the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement in October 2024, a group that had been proscribed under anti-terror laws ahead of the event, which addressed grievances over security operations and rights issues in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.