Rashid motion 'not urgent'

2006-06-19 13:06

Pretoria - An application to have the deportation of Pakistani national Khalid Mahmood Rashid declared unlawful is not urgent, the Pretoria High Court ruled on Monday.

Rashid's lawyer Zehir Omar on Friday brought an application before the court asking that Rashid's arrest, detention and removal from South Africa be declared unlawful.

Judge Francis Legodi however ruled that since Rashid was no longer in the custody of the government and not in South Africa it was not an urgent matter.

Omar on Monday brought a new application asking the court to force the government to ask the Pakistani government not to impose the death penalty on Rashid.

This follows the admission by the Pakistani High Commission in Pretoria last week that Rashid was being held in Pakistan where he was facing terrorism charges.

Omar contended that Pakistani courts in 2005 sentenced 241 people to death and executed 31.

Legodi ruled that since Omar gave no indication of how far the case against Rashid in the Pakistani court had developed, he could not rule on it urgently, but said the case could be heard by a full bench of the court if it was put on a normal court roll.

Omar asked for leave to appeal against Legodi's judgement but it was denied.

- SAPA