Peshawar High Court (PHC) has ordered the release of five members, including an infant, of an Egyptian family from Haripur prison. While head of the family Mohammad Ashraf, suspected brother of al Qaeda leader Aiman Al-Zawahiri, would be released after the provision of documents by Egyptian embassy.
This was stated by former MNA and Chairman of the World Prisoners Relief Commission, Javed Ibrahim Paracha. Two-member bench headed by Chief Justice Tariq Pervez Khan ordered the release of the five family members. The Egyptian family was arrested under section 14 of the Foreigners Act.
Those who won their release with the efforts of the World Prisoners Relief Commission included Ambar, wife of the Egyptian national Mohammad Ashraf, and his four daughters Asma, Zuhra, Vella and Safia. They were under detention in Haripur Prison. The chairman of the prisoners' relief body said a local magistrate had sentenced the Egyptian family to two months imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 before their shifting to the prison.
The family, he said, was running a religious seminary. Paracha said the court had ordered the release of the family on humanitarian grounds. However, he said the head of the family, Mohammad Ashraf could not be released as the court sought details from the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad.
He was confident that the Egyptian would be released soon. Javed Ibrahim Paracha, who is a senior leader of PML-N, said there were nearly 800 foreign prisoners in the prisons of the NWFP and Balochistan, while the total number of foreign prisoners in the country was more than 3,000. World Prisoners Relief Commission was formed in 2001 for adopting legal course for the release of innocent foreigners languishing in different prisons under Foreigners Act.