Pakistan Blocks Trio’s Extradition
A Pakistani court issued an order Tuesday blocking the extradition of three Al Qaeda suspects arrested in a joint raid by local authorities and the FBI.
The court also ordered prosecutors to explain the charges.
The ruling by the Lahore High Court came in response to a motion filed by lawyers for two naturalized Americans and one Canadian arrested with six relatives in a raid Thursday.
Although no extradition warrant had been issued for the men, Pakistan has extradited other terrorism suspects to the U.S. in the last year. Last week’s raid sparked a series of protests in Lahore against the involvement of FBI agents.
The two Americans, identified as Umer Karar Khawaja and Khyzer Ali Khawaja, and the Canadian, Usman Khawaja, were being questioned about suspected links to the Al Qaeda terrorist network, a prosecutor said.
The presiding judge set a hearing for Friday for prosecutors to detail the charges against the relatives still in custody. They included Dr. Javed Ahmad, a U.S. citizen and prominent physician in Pakistan.
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