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| India-Pakistan | |
| US citizen acquitted after police drop charges | |
| 2010-01-06 | |
| Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Muhammad Anwar Nazir on Monday acquitted a US citizen after police dropped charges against him and sent five others to jail for 14 days. Earlier, the police produced Khalid Farooq, Umar, Aman Ahmed, Waqar and Rami before the court. The police dropped charges against Khalid Farooq, who was acquitted. The court also directed the police to submit the challan on January 18. A large contingent of the police was also present on the occasion. The police had arrested Umar and his four colleagues from Aziz Bhatti Town here on December 9, 2009. They were produced before the court on Dec 15 and the Lahore High Court admonished the police for not producing them within 24 hours. Later, Khalid Farooq was also arrested. Khalid Farooq is a Pakistani, who migrated to the US in 1980. His son, Umar, who was born in the US, came to Pakistan, along with his friends, in December. He was to tie the knot in Pakistan and his friends had come to attend his wedding ceremony. After their arrest, his family approached the US consulate and the FBI investigated the matter. The US State Department, in an official statement on Dec 11, expressed the hope that the arrested Americans would be expatriated. Police sources said emails of the accused showed that they wanted to take part in Jihad and were trying to establish links with extremists in Fata. They claimed that Rami Zamzam had links in Dubai and the accused were planning to carry out terrorist activities in Pakistan. They said maps of some sensitive areas were recovered from the accused. They said Umar was staying in the house of his brother-in-law, Fahim, who had a quarrel with his servant. The servant told the police about the presence of the Americans, they added. The US Islamic Council in Alexandria had said Umar and his colleagues were preachers, who used to visit abroad for preaching Islam.
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| Posted by:Fred |