Court permission: OBL’s brother-in-law to meet sister

Counsel argues that criminal case against Osama’s wife is irrelevant.

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday allowed Zakarya Ahmed Abdalfattah to meet his sister, the wife of Osama bin Laden, after he filed an application before the court.

Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan was hearing the petition of Abdalfattah, in which he complained that authorities refused to let him meet his sister and her children. The judge asked the interior ministry to arrange a meeting between him and his sister.

Making the state, Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), interior ministry secretary and defence ministry secretary as respondents, Abdalfattah filed a petition challenging the registration of a criminal case against his sister and the children of the slain Osama bin Laden before the civil judge in the district court of Islamabad.

The petitioner’s counsel argued that authorities could not register a criminal case against Ms Amal and her children, Ibraheem, Hussain, Safiah, and Zainab, under sections 13 and 14 of the Foreign Act and sections 212 and 419 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). During the hearing, Mohammad Aamir Khalil said that the case registered under the PPC did not apply in this instance, because they migrated to Pakistan many years ago during the Afghan war. The court asked the respondents to submit their replies and adjourned the case for two weeks.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23^rd, 2012.