PESHAWAR: A local court on Friday cancelled the bail applications of an Egyptian engineer and seven members of his family who were detained by an intelligence agency a year ago. The engineer had presented the applications to the court on April 18. The court also rejected the bail petitions of two Tajik boys Saeed Akbar, 14, alias Hussain and Khalid Maroof, 17. The boys were arrested by the Pakistan Army in October 2004 in South Waziristan from a Madrassa.The court of judicial magistrate Malik Amjad Raheem took up the ten bail petitions of the Egypt and Tajikistan nationals. Their counsel, Fida Gul, stated that the intelligence agencies picked up the entire Egyptian family from their home situated in the Charsadda district of NWFP. Gul said that all the members of the family were taken away and they were not given a chance to present their legal documents of their stay in Pakistan. He said the two Tajik boys were underage and were staying in the tribal area for their religious education. He requested the court to accept the bail applications of the foreigners, as only then would they be able to prove their legal entry and stay in Pakistan.
The court turned down the bail applications including those of the women and children when the prosecution told the court that bail to foreigners was not allowed under the 14 Foreigners Act, 1946.