The Lahore High Court on Thursday suspended the sentence of Saadat Amin of Sargodha and released him on bail convicted for being part of an international nexus of child pornographers.

A judicial magistrate on April 26, 2018 had awarded seven-year imprisonment to him and also imposed a fine of Rs 1.2 million on him.

Federal Investigation Agency's cyber crime cell had arrested Saadat on the complaint of Norwegian embassy during 2017. The prosecution said the convict was an active member of international racket operating online from Pakistan and engaging children and used to transmit their pornographic pictures/videos outside the country.

It said more than 650000 pictures and videos related to child pornography were found from the digital media recovered from the convict's possession.

The convict's counsel argued before the court that the investigation held by the agency was faulty as it failed to arrest or investigate the alleged foreign agent in Norway.

The counsel said the appellant was behind the bars since his arrest in 2017 while his main appeal against the sentence was still pending with the high court. He asked the court to suspend the sentence and release the appellant on bail.