Not guilty: Anti-terrorism court acquits man of terrorism charges

Prosecution failed to provide sufficient evidence against the accused.

PESHAWAR: An anti-terrorism court on Thursday acquitted a suspect of terrorism charges after the prosecution failed to produce sufficient evidence against him.

The court of Judge Salim Jan Khan ordered the acquittal of Sajid Afridi who had been arrested in 2014 in the jurisdiction of Paharipura police station.

Muhammad Imran Afridi, counsel for the accused, told the court his client was charged for orchestrating a bomb blast in the provincial capital on April 16, 2014 outside the house of Nasir Khan in which no casualties were reported. He was also charged for being involved in planting explosives outside a house in the city on May 17, 2014 which was later defused.

The charges

According to Muhammad Imran, police charged Sajid under sections 3 and 4 of the Explosive Substances Act, 2013 which penalises the act or attempt of using explosives, to likely endanger life or property. He added his client was also charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act and Section 387 of Pakistan Penal Code which deals with “putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt, in order to commit extortion”.

Defending his client, the counsel said Sajid had been falsely implicated by one of his relatives with whom he had a long-standing dispute.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 9^th, 2015.