Man Held, Secretly, in London Terror Bombings
A Pakistani man appeared in court last week for the first time in his home country after allegedly being abducted from South Africa 18 months ago and held secretly in connection with the 2005 suicide bombings in London, according to news reports.
The lawyer for Khalid Mehmood Rashid said he intends to make a Pakistani Supreme Court challenge to his client’s “illegal” detention, according to Reuters.
The lawyer, Hashmat Habib, and the suspect’s family members assert that Rashid’s alleged abduction was part of a controversial U.S. Central Intelligence Agency “extraordinary rendition” program, according to both Reuters and AP.
The exact charges being made against Rashid are not clear. According to news reports, Rashid’s lawyer said he had been told his client is suspected of involvement in July 2005 suicide attacks on the London transit system in which more than 50 people died. “This is what I have heard. I have no documentary proof for that,’ Habib told Reuters.
South African officials say they deported Rashid to Pakistan because his travel documents were invalid. A Pakistani official reportedly said the detention is under a law that allows any suspect to be held for up to one year.
Three other men were charged by British authorities in the suicide bombings earlier this month, the BBC reported, and four suspects died in the attacks.
