Illegal Entry Into Pakistan: Arrested Dutch nationals return home

AMSTERDAM: A plane carrying two Dutch nationals who were being held in Pakistan on visa violations landed on Tuesday evening at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, Radio Netherlands Worldwide reported on Wednesday. The Public Prosecutors’ Office said the two will not be arrested and are free to go home. The two men, both of Moroccan descent, were arrested by Pakistani intelligence on suspicion of trying to join al Qaeda. They were never officially charged with terrorist activities in Pakistan, but were held for illegally entering the country, report said. One of the two men, identified as Said, disappeared while in Turkey. In June, it emerged he and another Dutch suspect were being held by Pakistani authorities. Diplomats from Dutch embassy in Islamabad were only allowed to visit the two men twice, once in July and once in November. Negotiations on their extradition took place last Friday between the Pakistani government and Dutch diplomats.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 5^th, 2012.