An Additional District and Sessions Judge of Lahore on Wednesday ordered the release of Raymond Davis after the families of victims accepted the blood money (diyat) in accordance with the Sharia law. Following a court hearing on Wednesday at the Lahore jail where Davis had been detained and where a media blackout had been imposed, Punjab provincial law minister Rana Sanaullah confirmed that Raymond Davis had been freed.
"Today the legal heirs of the victims appeared before the judge Mohammad Yousuf Aoujla and said they had pardoned the accused. After this, the honourable court acquitted him," Rana Sanaullah said, adding that Davis had already been freed.
"It is the legal and Islamic right of the heirs to pardon the accused after accepting blood money. Everything had been done according to the law by the court. We as government have nothing to do with it," Sanaullah said. Raymond Davis, 36 and a US citizen, was arrested in Lahore on January 27 for shooting dead two motorcyclists in what he claimed was an act of self-defence. However, a lawyer representing the victims' families alleged that the families were forced by authorities to accept the compensation.
Lawyer Asad Manzoor Butt said that he was kept in illegal custody in Kot Lakhpat jail, where in-camera proceedings of the case were taking place. He claimed that he had not been allowed to represent his clients in court. "They held me for five-and-a-half hours and even took away my cellphone. They had also kidnapped members of victims' families last night," claimed Butt.
The official source, however, said that the victims' families had disengaged Advocate Asad Butt and hired services of two new advocates of Supreme Court, Raja Irshad and Shabbir Hussain, who filed their power of attorneys on Wednesday and carried out the whole process of pardon for the accused. The acquittal came around four hours after Davis was charged with double murder.
Up until Wednesday the family of at least one of the victims was claiming that they would not accept the blood money. "The reports that we are going to have a settlement with Davis are wrong," said Imran Haider, brother of the deceased Fahim. Television reports said that Davis had been flown out of Pakistan by a US Air Force plane. These reports said the plane's destination was the US Bagram airbase in Afghanistan.
Judge Muhammad Yusaf Aoujla conducted the hearing of the case in Kot Lakhpat Jail where as many as 18 legal heirs of the victims Faizan and Fahim reportedly appeared before the court. AD&SJ first framed charges against Davis in the double murder case and later the legal heirs of the victims submitted their affidavits accepting the blood-money and stated before the court they had pardoned him and would have no objection if he was released.
On the charge of possession of illegal weapon, the court imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on Raymond, which he deposited in the court. The court awarded him minimum sentence in the case and considered his 41 days in jail as punishment/imprisonment under section 382-B of the Cr.P.C. After the judge had concluded the proceedings, the representatives of US embassy and consulate, and members of victims' family left the Kot Lakhpat jail in a convoy of at least six vehicles and drove away immediately. Sources in jail administration said that the Raymond Davis was also with the convoy.
An official source told Business Recorder that Rs 100 million each was given to both the families, which they acknowledged before the court. That was confirmed by public prosecutor Abdul Samad. The family of the third man who was ran over by a US consulate car has not received any blood money payment. Lytton Road police registered a case on January 27 last, against Raymond Davis on charges of killing two Pakistani citizens riding bikes at Qurtaba Chowk.
Another Pakistani Abaid-ur-Rehman was crushed to death when a US consulate vehicle rushed to the scene to rescue Raymond. US officials denied the police an access to the vehicle, and the occupants are widely believed to have left the country. Raymond was working as a CIA contractor had taken plea that he killed the bike riders in 'self-defence'. The US authorities claimed that Raymond Davis was protected by diplomatic immunity, a claim disputed by the Pakistan government. The Lahore High Court on Monday referred this issue to the Sessions Court to decide.
Police had recovered a Glock pistol, four loaded magazines, a GPS navigation system and a small telescope from the possession of Raymond Davis. The Raymond Davis case has strained relations between Islamabad and Washington, which claimed that Davis enjoyed diplomatic immunity and could not be charged. Pakistani officials speaking on condition of anonymity had claimed that Davis was a private contractor working for the CIA, add agencies.
The United States postponed a round of high-level talks with Afghanistan and Pakistan following earlier failed attempts to get Davis out, and US lawmakers had threatened to cut payments to Pakistan until he was freed. Some US media reports suggested that he was collecting information about Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant outfit involved in 2008 terrorist attacks in Indian financial hub of Mumbai.
Pakistan government remained reluctant to decide on whether Davis had diplomatic immunity or not, fearing a public backlash. Majority of Pakistanis wanted an exemplary punishment for him. Following the release of Davis, hundreds of people held protest rallies in various districts of Punjab, TV reports said.
"Whatever happened did happen due to pressure. The US and our government had put pressure on the families," said Imran Khan. "Even if it is legally right, it is morally wrong and this is going to increase extremism in the country," he added. Observers feared that after Davis' acquittal, the case could become even more contentious in Pakistan. The country's powerful religious parties had tried to block such a deal, calling for Davis to be hanged, and the families' lawyer suggested they had been forced to sign the papers.
Religious parties have condemned the release. Amir-ul-Azeem, a senior leader of Jamaat-i-Islami, denounced the acquittal and repeated the claim that the victims' lawyers were detained, and the families were forced to sign a deal pardoning Davis. "We will protest against this. This is shameful and unfortunate," he said.
As the news broke, small protests were reported from different cities. Analysts said there was risk of a backlash against the government. Talat Masood, a defence analyst and retired general, said some groups could use the case to their advantage.
"Some elements will take advantage of it (such as) opposition parties, even if it's only for rhetoric to gain points. With the religious parties and militant groups, they might use it to expand their reach." There had been speculation that a deal was in the works between the United States and the families of the dead men, including a third killed when a US consulate vehicle struck him while en route to extract Davis from the scene.
After Davis was released, a Reuters correspondent found one of the families' homes padlocked. A woman nearby said the family had left. The identity of the victims has been questioned from the outset, with some media reports saying the men worked for Pakistan's intelligence agency, and that they might have been known to Davis.
The case also strained ties between the CIA and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, which said it was unaware Davis was working in Pakistan. Masood said that Pakistan's military, its intelligence agencies and the government would have had to act in rare unison to reach a settlement in the case, because of concerns about a possible public backlash from a population that overwhelmingly disapproves of Pakistan's relationship with the United States.
"This obviously places the government in a very tight corner although in a way it has taken a bold step," Masood said. "This must have been taken in a way that involved the military intelligence and the political leadership, so that they know what the reaction would be, and should have anticipated that."