WORLD BRIEFING / PAKISTAN
A Pakistani court ordered the government to lift any remaining restrictions on a scientist alleged to have spread nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya, his lawyer said.
The interim instruction on a petition filed by scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan could stir alarm in the United States, which still regards him as a proliferation risk.
Khan’s lawyer, Ali Zafar, said the Lahore High Court observed that “nobody can restrict the movement of A.Q. Khan, given a court ruling earlier this year that declared him a ‘free citizen.’ ”
Khan was detained in 2003 and admitted on television in early 2004 sole responsibility for operating a network that spread nuclear weapons technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya. He has since retracted that statement.
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