Suspect’s rights: NAB, FIA suspects have right to lawyer too

Provincial government’s reply on plea against torture still awaited.

LAHORE:

A federal government representative admitted in the Lahore High Court on Wednesday that the laws for the National Accountability Bureau and the Federal Investigation Agency permitted a suspect to have his lawyer present during interrogations, but “implementation still remains an issue”.

The petition seeks the enforcement of Article 10(1) of the Constitution, which states that a person accused of a crime has a right to engage a lawyer to defend themselves shortly after arrest and have the lawyer present during interrogations. The FIA and NAB have special laws which allow them to detain suspects for longer than the police.

The federal government submitted its reply to the petition on Wednesday, but the provincial government’s reply is still awaited. Petitioner Abdul Wahid, through Advocate AK Dogar, submitted that enforcing Article 10(1) would protect suspects in custody from torture and result in less corruption and bribery.

The petitioner asked the court to declare that no interrogation conducted in the absence of the suspect’s lawyer was valid, and to direct the federal and provincial governments to enforce Article 10(1).

ATC judge transferred

Lahore High Court Chief Justice on Wednesday issued transfer orders of ATC judge Tahir Pervez, who had remanded Ayesha Ahad Malik into police custody for 10 days. He has been posted as presiding officer at Sahiwal district consumer cour.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 13^th, 2011.