ATC hearing: IO told me to appeal to judge, says accused

We have done this for the first time, please forgive us: Extortionist

KARACHI: A suspect facing charges of extortion told the Anti-Terrorism Court-I on Monday that he had been told by the investigating officer in the case to ask for clemency from the court. Three men are named in Special Case A-69/2012, based on a FIR filed by the Gulshan-e-Iqbal police station earlier this year. While the court hearing on Monday was adjourned to August 24 because one of the defence lawyers did not appear, a suspect told the judge: “The investigating officer told us to appeal to the judge [by saying] ‘We have done this for the first time, please forgive us.” The three accused have been charged under sections of the Pakistan Penal Code that deal with extortion by either using or attempting to use violence, criminal intimidation and common intent, as well as under section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 14^th, 2012.