SA men will get 'fair trial'

2004-08-19 14:02

Durban - Two South Africans held in Pakistan on suspicion of terror-related activities will get a fair trial, a Pakistani diplomat said on Thursday.

"(There are) clear-cut law processes that will take their course," said Javed Jalil Khattak, first secretary of the Pakistan High Commission in Pretoria. Khattak was attending the Non-Aligned Movement ministerial conference in Durban.

He said the legal procedure to be followed was a "very fair process".

He said investigations were still continuing, and he did not know when the two South Africans, Feroze Ganchi and Zubair Ismail who have been in detention since July 25, would be granted consular or other access.

"As soon as some stage is reached in the investigation where we feel it is appropriate for access, it will be granted," said Khattak, adding that the governments of both countries were dealing with the matter at various levels.

Khattak said Pakistan was at the forefront of the war against terror, and had arrested about 600 people with alleged al-Qaeda connections.

Two attempts have been made on Pakistan president Musharraf's life, and another attempt on the life of the country's prime minister elect, Shaukat Aziz.

He said the situation in Pakistan was very serious and the government could not just share information about the investigation.

"It is not an arrest of a person for a common crime," he said.

Won't sour relations

Asked about South African media reports questioning whether the two citizens were actually in the house with al-Qaeda heavyweight, Tanzanian Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, Khattak said the "facts of the case" were that the two were arrested in the house with 13 others.

Khattak said the two South Africans would probably be charged only once the investigation was complete.

He doubted whether the lack of access to the two men would sour relations between South Africa and Pakistan, saying the two countries have a long history of close relations.

"We supported the African National Congress and (former president Nelson) Mandela is highly respected in Pakistan," he said, adding that it was a matter of two individuals and not a matter between countries.

Khattak said both he and Pakistan's High Commissioner Akbar Zeb had seen the families of the two terror suspects and relayed the "good references" they had back to Pakistan.

The two South Africans are Dr Feroze Ganchi, of Fordsburg, Johannesburg, and 20-year-old student Zubair Ismail from Laudium in Pretoria. The Tanzanian citizen is Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, wanted in connection with the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

- SAPA