The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday dismissed a government plea to extend the detention of Saad Rizvi, head of the banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).
The three-member review board comprised Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan, Justice Aalia Neelum and Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan.
Rizvi was produced before the board on expiry of his 90-day detention period. Government officials assisted the board during in-camera proceedings while requesting an extension. The board also dismissed an application by the Punjab Home Department to extend the detention of TLP activists Usman and Wazir Ali.
A large police contingent was present at the entry and exit gates of the LHC as Rizvi was being presented before the court. Entry to court premises was also barred. Hundreds of TLP workers showered their leader with rose petals as soon as he disembarked from the police van. They also raised slogans defending the party.
Speaking to the media after the hearing, Rizvi’s legal counsel, Advocate Burhan Moazzam Malik, confirmed that his client still had to serve “five to seven days” in detention. On the question of bail, he said that it depended on whether the police arrested Rizvi on different charges once his 90-day detention period came to an end.
Rizvi, the son of late Khadim Hussain Rizvi, was arrested on April 12 for inciting his followers to take the law into their own hands over what he described as a government U-turn over the expulsion of the French ambassador. The TLP had been calling for him to be expelled following the publication of blasphemous caricatures of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) in France. French President Emmanuel Macron supported the cartoons’ publication.
