RAWALPINDI:
A high court judge has ordered the superintendent of Adiala Jail to submit his reply on a petition seeking release of a man who has served his life sentence.
Hearing a petition filed by Muhammad Zakar’s sister, Justice Rauf Ahmed Sheikh of the Lahore High
Court’s Rawalpindi bench issued a notice to the superintendent to file his reply by March 1.
The petitioner claimed that Zakar, along with three other men, was convicted by a sessions court in 2001 in Gujrat. It maintains that Zakar is being kept in illegal custody, as he has completed his sentence but the jail authorities are not releasing him.
The trial court in 2001convicted Zakar and two other for life term jail, while the fourth convict was given a death sentence.
The appellant court had turned down their appeals, said the petitioner.
“The present government has given several remissions in the past four years and if they are taken into account, a man convicted for the first time without any terrorism charges can be released after 10 years,” said Advocate Abdul Saraa, the petitioner’s counsel.
“Since he was arrested on August 20, 2001, he has served six extra months in jail,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 24th, 2012.
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