This Article is From Feb 17, 2010

Lawyers representing 26/11 suspects fear for their lives

Lahore: Lawyers representing seven Pakistani suspects currently being tried by an anti-terror court for alleged involvement in the Mumbai attacks have claimed that their lives are in danger and no security is being provided to them despite a court order in this regard.

"I have asked the concerned authorities whether will they act only when any of us is targeted the way the lawyer of (Indian national Sabahuddin) Ansari, Shahid Azmi, was gunned down in Mumbai," Khwaja Sultan, counsel for Lashker-e-Taiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, told PTI.

Sultan said after he had filed an application, Lahore High Court Chief Justice Khwaja Mohammad Sharif had directed authorities to provide security to all five defence lawyers.

He contended that not even a single policeman had been deputed to protect the lawyers.

"This is a high-profile case and anything can happen to lawyers representing either the accused or the state," Sultan said.

He claimed the venue of the trial Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi was "highly unsafe" and said the case should be shifted to Lahore.

 
.