Deja vu as Pak court acquits 4 terror accused of aiding Times Square bomber

Islamabad, June 3 (ANI): In what seems to have become the norm in Pakistan of terror suspects walking free due to lack of evidence provided to the courts by prosecutors, four Pakistani men accused of involvement in the 2010 Times Square bomb plot have been acquitted by a Rawalpindi court, a lawyer and family members of the men have said.

The men were arrested amid the May 2010 incident during which Pakistani-American Faisal Shahzad drove an SUV packed with a bomb into Times Square.

The bomb produced smoke but no explosion.

The men, Faisal Abbasi, Muhammad Shahid Husain, Muhammad Shoaib Mughal and Humbal Akhtar, had been accused of sending him money to help prepare the attack.

According to CBS News, lawyer Malik Imran Safdar said that the prosecution failed to prove its case against his clients.

The men were released on Saturday evening after the court in Rawalpindi acquitted them.

Terrorism cases in Pakistan rarely result in convictions or prison sentences, as most of the times, police lack basic investigative skills, prosecutors lack training in terror cases and judges and witnesses are often subject to intimidation.

According to the report, Pakistani security officials have also been accused by human rights groups of holding suspects for months, even years without filing charges or divulging any information about their cases. (ANI)