Pakistani court drops charges against UK bomb plot suspect

A Pakistani anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Wednesday dropped terrorism charges against Rashid Rauf, a key suspect in the alleged airline bomb plot, the NNI news agency reported.

British police thwarted a plot to blow up several U.S.-bound aircrafts in August. Pakistani police also made local arrests during the process, and Rauf was among the alleged suspects with links to the plane bombing attempt.

The ATC judge Malik Safdar Hussain ordered the trial be conducted by regular court, Rauf's lawyer Hashmat Habib was quoted by the report as saying.

Produced in the court in north city Rawalpindi, the suspect has told the court that the police have registered a baseless terrorism case against him, according to the report.

Terming it as a false case, the lawyer told the court that police arrested Rauf on Aug. 9 while he was traveling on a bus from the city of Multan to Bahawalpur in Punjab province.

"But the police have mentioned (in the case) Aug. 10 and the city of Rawalpindi of his arrest, which is incorrect," Habib was quoted as saying.

Accordingly, the lawyer said the Pakistani government had staged the drama of plane bombing plot to help U.S. President Bush win elections, and what the police had recovered from Rauf was medicine instead of explosive materials.

Habib said the anti-terrorism court could not hear the case as the charges shown in the case do not fall under its jurisdiction. He requested the ATC to send the case to a regular court.

The ATC court has ordered that Rashid Rauf be produced in the court of District Session Judge on Dec. 20 to determine which court should hear the case.

Source: Xinhua