The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday rejected plea of Shia cleric Mirza Iftikharuddin to halt trial in derogatory video case against the judiciary and judges.
A two-member bench of the apex court, comprising Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, heard the case. At the outset of the hearing, the accused refused to accept indictment and pleaded the court through his lawyer to stop the trial of the case until judgement from the trial court.
“Two cases were registered on the base of a single video”, the lawyer of Iftikharuddin said. To this, Justice Ijazul Ahsan said that the top court is hearing the contempt case and there is no link between cyber crimes and terrorism charges in the under trial case in the apex court. The bench said that the trial court will pass judgement according to the evidence, and summoned progress report from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in the case.
Later, the Supreme Court adjourned further proceedings of the case for three weeks.
Meanwhile, Advisor to Prime Minister on Accountability and Interior Mirza Shahzad Akbar completely denied his links with cleric Iftikharuddin. A report was submitted by the FIA related to Mirza’s case. Akbar also joined the investigation and had his statement recorded. The report stated that the PM’s aide was neither acquainted with Mirza nor did he have any relation to him regarding the matter.
The FIA said that the bail of the main individual accused had already been rejected by an anti-terrorism court. However, co-accused Akbar Ali got bail on July 18 on the grounds of being a juvenile. The report also stated that the complainant, Abdul Waheed Dogar, also denied having any links with Mirza. However, he admitted that he has had one meeting with the PM’s advisor, when he gave an application to the Assets Recovery Unit (ARU).
