Defence ministry agrees to conditional release of lawyer detained on espionage charge.

Byline: Haseeb Bhatti

The defence ministry on Wednesday assured the Supreme Court that Advocate Inamur Rahim - a retired colonel who was picked up by a security agency from his home in Rawalpindi on Dec 17, 2019 - will be released if certain condition are met.

The assurance was given during a hearing of a petition filed by the government against a Lahore High Court ruling, issued earlier this month, in which Rahim's detention was declared illegal. A three-member bench, headed by Justice Mushir Alam had ordered the lawyer be immediately released.

During today's proceedings, the attorney general told the court that Rahim was unwell and had been taken to the hospital multiple times. He said that the advocate will be released if his counsel agrees to surrender his passport and share his laptop's password with the ministry. The attorney general further said that Rahim should also agree to not venture outside the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

Rahim should also agree to "cooperate in the investigation", the attorney general said.

The retired colonel's counsel reminded the court that Rahim had been under detention for more than a month but agreed to the defence ministry's conditions for release.

The court then directed Rahim's counsel to surrender his passport and cooperate in the investigation, saying, "Government's petition against Rahim's release [order by LHC] will be heard on merit."

The hearing was adjourned for two weeks.

Rahim's detention 'illegal'

On January 9, the LHC's Rawalpindi bench had declared the detention of Rahim to be illegal and ordered military authorities to release him immediately.

Following this, the federal government on January 11 approached the Supreme Court to challenge the ruling.

The defence and interior secretaries in an appeal filed through Additional Attorney General Sajid Ilyas Bhatti had sought suspension of the LHC's release order till the present...