The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered release of former Khatib of Lal Masjid Maulana Abdul Aziz on bail from the 27th case regarding occupation of childerns library after a detention of almost 18 months. A three-member bench of the apex court, comprising Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Justice Syed Zahid Hussain, granted the bail after observing that there was no substantial evidence against Maulana Abdul Aziz for occupying the childerns library.
The court granted bail and asked for submission of security bonds of Rs 200, 000. The former Lal Masjid Khatib was booked on July 4, 2007 by the police as he was trying to escape the besieged Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa, clad in a Burqa. Afterwards, 27 cases were registered against Maulana Abdul Aziz, which include murder, kidnapping of security personnel and foreigners.
He was granted bail in 25 cases, while he was acquitted in one case. In June, 2008, a division bench of Islamabad High Court accepted Azizs bail in four cases related to murder of a Rangers official, abduction of police personnel and Chinese citizens and other charges.
In July, 2008, the IHC division bench rejected bail of Maulana Abdul Aziz in childerns library case. After which Maulana Abdul Aziz moved an appeal before the Supreme Court. The government had also filed an appeal in Supreme Court, seeking cancellation of bail granted by the IHC in four cases, but the apex court had dismissed the appeal. Advocate Shaukat Siddiqui appeared before the court as counsel for Maulana while Special Prosecutor General Ilyas Siddiqui represented the Federation.
Siddiqui apprised the court that Maulana Aziz had neither ordered occupation of childerns library nor was he involved in that action. There was no evidence or proof available against Maulana Abdul Aziz regarding his involvement in the occupation of the library, he added.
He also read out the statement of security guard of the children library in support of his arguments, which stated that the library was occupied on the orders of Lal Masjid administration. On a query of the court, Siddiqui said that no one had seen him (Maulana) in possession of the library at any stage.
The Special Prosecutor General said that the library was occupied by the students of Jamaia Hafsa. Since Maulana Abdul Aziz was patron of the Jamia, therefore, he was responsible for the action taken by the students. Talking to the reporters outside the court, Shaukat Siddiqui said that release of Maulana Abdul Aziz would come into effect within two to three days.
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