ISLAMABAD, 5 January 2018: An Anti-Terrorism Court, ATC, has issued non-bailable arrest warrants for three key witnesses Ihtesham Ahmed, Roman Ahmed and Ammar Yasir, for non-cooperation during the case proceedings. One of the witnesses, Ihtesham Ahmed was himself a complainant in this case.
According to details, the ATC judge Shahrukh Arjumand expressed displeasure over the non-cooperation of the witnesses despite various notices being issued to them. The court has now ordered the witnesses to be arrested and presented in front of the court on 8th January. The witnesses were asked to give their statements in court but have opted out of the proceedings.
Earlier, the FIA had shared with Islamabad High Court, IHC, that there was no evidence of blasphemy found against the bloggers who had gone missing in January 2017.
Meanwhile, Digital Rights Monitor spoke to the complainant Hafiz Ihtisham Ahmad over the phone. “I’ve decided to boycott the court proceedings, as the agencies and the judges are not interested in to fix the culprits,” he alleged. He also said that he will launch a campaign with consultation with Maulana Saleem, his mentor, against the court for not going behind bloggers who are involved in online blasphemy.
“The judge of the anti-terrorism court forced me to record statement against bloggers who had already been cleared by the relevant authorities,” noted Mr.Ahmad.
