Court upholds freedom of Saif!

Appeals Court confirms freedom of young Pakistani and rejected the appeal filed by the Ministry of Interior, Rodrigo Hinzpeter.

A victory of justice! Alhamdulilah.

Re: Court upholds freedom of Saif!

^ good news :k:

Re: Court upholds freedom of Saif!

hi

Good news, ALHAMDULILLAH, and congratulations on your brother getting released

Re: Court upholds freedom of Saif!

Really happy for you & your family. Congratulations.

I hope saif follows follows up and sues those who have been responsible for this ordeal. It is not enough that is released. He needs to sue them back so they don't do this again to an innocent Pakistani.

Re: Court upholds freedom of Saif!

Thanks everyone.... Alhamdulilah... May Allah resolve this matter completely with respect.

Did you all notice how the Western media is quiet? They gave big headlines about a Pakistani "terrorist" when this happened.

Where is all the news about him being released and that nothing was found against him?

Shameful and just shows the true picture of the garbage we love to watch everyday.

Re: Court upholds freedom of Saif!

June 10, 2010 - Live with Talat - Aaj Tv

That is the disgusting thing about this media, as soon as they find something 'spicy' and that too a 'Pakistani' they will gladly play it, exaggerate it 24x7 but once found not true they will quietly leave the topic alone.

What is needed is a concerted effort by all Pakistanis combined to stand up for their image and rights. Its too often that we see Pakistan and Pakistanis being demonized. We cannot ignore the importance of image. Its just like slandering someone with accusations and in the current environment the media is slandering the whole Pakistani community.

If you think its about one person, you are mistaken. Just follow the comments on various US media news websites and you will be amazed by the 97% negative comments. This has been happening for a while and we as Pakistanis are numb about it. It just makes life for Muslims of Pakistani origin even harder in the West.

What is the solution? I am not talking about any other case in which a Pakistani is involved. Just keeping to Saif's case it is so evident how the media was biased and how character assassination is done. The whole community is terrorized by words we are all aware of. After all this I am not ready to accept that everything bad comes out from Pakistan. It is the way media portrays it. Sadly many seemingly Pakistanis on many forums start believing every word of what is written in the western press. At least wake up now. Pakistanis and Muslims are not treated with justice. Lastly, there is no single news about this on BBC and CNN. Many people rely on these for information.

Re: Court upholds freedom of Saif!

Please contact BBC & CNN & tell them to broadcast this news. See what they do.

Its not only BBC or CNN, the whole mainstream media is quiet.

On top of that, popular Pakistani media such as GEO has not said a word.

In today's world we often underestimate the importance of non-traditional media. Youtube, blogs, forums, comments at a news all have some impact if not much. The least we can do is write in an educated way to dispel mis-information. Remaining silent would make it worse.

Peace will eventually prevail. What may seem small may have important positive implications.

Re: Court upholds freedom of Saif!

akram, I do not watch GEO because that one-eyed orange-blue colored lucifier is an indian agent & the king of propaganda against Pakistan on Pak soil. So, I cant say about that.

I mentioned CNN & BBC because I had heard news of your brother on these two channels. It is obvious that someone told them to broadcast that news. Those people who wanted this negative hype about an innocent Pakistani, ofcourse, would not want the truth to come out so they would not go to CNN & BBC to broadcast the truth. it is you who has to approach them. The liars would spread lies & the truthseekers would spread the truth.

If after doing your part of asking them to broadcast the truth about your brother, if they still ignore & do not do it, only then you can blame them.

Interesting video - must watch from May 11 -2010 – U.S. Department of State – Daily Press Briefing by Assistant Secretary Philip J. Crowley about innocent M. Saif-ur-Rehman Khan

Re: Court upholds freedom of Saif!

woah, this man is utterly confused.. trying to construct stories.. journalists sitting there are enjoying it.. :\

Wowwww...............

I have not been able to watch the whole video as my net's bad. But whatever I have watched, I have no doubts that this man has been harshly instructed by someone upon issuing this statement. And I have no doubts that this has been done upon indian manipulation of whoever instructed him to do so.

Finally something in the US media…

From Traces of Explosive, Chile Terror Inquiry Builds
By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO
Published: June 18, 2010

SANTIAGO, Chile — Muhammad Saif ur Rehman Khan said he had traveled from his native Pakistan to Santiago to learn Spanish and work in a hotel. But five months after his arrival, Mr. Khan finds himself under investigation as a terrorism suspect, after traces of a rarely used explosive were discovered on his belongings when he visited the American Embassy.

Many Chileans have bristled at the severity of the response by the authorities here, who twice sent Mr. Kahn to jail after invoking a seldom used antiterrorism law. His arrest has also stirred concerns in Chile about racial profiling by the United States.

What was their objective — just to give a bad name to the Muslims?” Mr. Kahn said as he was released from jail early this month. “They made my mother cry. They made my family in stress. For what?

Mr. Khan’s troubles began when he went to the American Embassy on May 10. An embassy official had summoned him there after the State Department received what one of its officials said was “adverse information” about Mr. Khan. He was taken to a secure room where, he said, he was locked in and subjected to a strip search, while his belongings were tested for explosives.

Chilean investigators said they had not yet found any evidence tying Mr. Khan to radical groups or terrorist plots. Yet a vexing fact remains: No one, including Mr. Khan, has been able to explain why embassy officials and the Chilean police found traces of the explosive tetryl on his cellphone, documents, a laptop and several items of clothing. Nor have American officials said what led them to call him to the embassy.

That has made the authorities especially uneasy in a country with little experience with bombing plots or conflicts in the Middle East, one that has only about 3,000 Muslim citizens.

Chilean officials have said their actions, including closing court hearings in Mr. Khan’s case to the public, were necessary.

“As a society we have the right to know why a person that has had contact with explosives is in our country,” Rodrigo Hinzpeter, Chile’s interior minister, said in a television interview. “This investigation has to run its course.”

Mr. Khan is now free after prosecutors decided not to appeal his latest release. But he cannot leave Chile until the investigation is completed.

Under Chilean law, prosecutors have 120 days from May 15 to investigate Mr. Khan for potentially violating a law that prohibits the possession of explosive substances. If convicted, he could receive a maximum sentence of 540 days, although as a first-time offender he would probably not have to serve jail time, an official in the Chilean prosecutor’s office said.

Mr. Khan, 28, studied hotel management in Islamabad, Pakistan, and in Britain. He said a former teacher had recommended that he go to Chile to study Spanish and work in a hotel.

Before traveling to Chile, he used an American visa to visit a brother in the United States. They went on a road trip through Texas.

After arriving in Santiago, he got a room in a boarding house and enrolled in a six-week language course. After completing the course, he began working at the front desk of a hotel. He started dating a Chilean woman and “was living a normal life,” he said in an interview.

Then on the afternoon of May 7 he received a phone call from an official at the American Embassy requesting that he come in to verify the name on his passport, he said.

That same day, Mr. Khan said, he had just finished his prayers at the local mosque in Santiago when several people approached him and asked if he spoke English. He said yes, and they said they were Americans visiting the mosque. “They talked about religion,” Mr. Khan said.

Three days later Mr. Khan went to the embassy, as requested. **He handed in his passport and cellphone. **William Whitaker, an embassy official, escorted him to a special room on the embassy grounds, where he asked if he could photocopy Mr. Khan’s documents. He left with them, saying he would return in 15 minutes.

A half hour passed and Mr. Khan checked the door and realized that it was locked. An hour later, he said, he was told over an intercom to take off his shoes, strip down to his underwear and show each clothing item to a security camera.

He was eventually permitted to dress, and Chilean police officers entered the room with a dog. They quickly tested his hands.

The tests of his hands and clothing were negative, a prosecutor said later in court. But the documents and Mr. Khan’s cellphone tested positive for tetryl, and the officers arrested him.

Gabriel Carrión, a public defender representing Mr. Khan, suggested that embassy officials might have manipulated the documents and the cellphone.

Mark Toner, a State Department spokesman, declined to comment. “We believe these allegations will be best addressed by the Chilean courts and not argued in the media,” he said.

The Chilean police sent two teams to examine Mr. Khan’s room at the boarding house with bomb-testing equipment. The first team found no sign of explosives. The second found traces of tetryl on seven items of clothing, including a necktie and a small suitcase. A laptop also tested positive, an official in the prosecutor’s office said.

Mr. Carrión said Mr. Khan had been living in the room for only about 10 days. The previous resident, called the Egyptian by the Chilean press, had occupied the room since late February.

That timing could be important because tetryl residue can linger on clothing for years, according to explosives experts in Chile and the United States.

Tetryl is not made in Chile, is not used commercially anywhere in the world and is hard to make, experts said.

Chris Ronay, president of the Institute of Makers of Explosives, said he thought Mr. Khan could have gotten tetryl on his belongings only if he had been around old military ordnance, storage areas or places where old ordnance had been detonated.

Mr. Khan said he had never been on a military installation.

Tetryl is distinct from other explosives because it generates a lot of powder when it explodes, said Carlos Orlandi, president of the Association of Chilean Explosives Engineers. “It is very difficult for someone who has touched this substance one or two times to have traces on his belongings,” Mr. Orlandi said.

While Mr. Khan could not explain how tetryl had gotten on his belongings, he maintained that he had done nothing wrong. With all that has happened, he said the experience had not colored his perception of the United States. “I love the American way of life,” he said.

“There are a lot of Spanish speakers in the United States, and I had hoped that after my experience in Chile I could find work there,” Mr. Khan said. “But that will never happen now.”

Aaron Nelsen contributed reporting.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/19/world/americas/19chile.html

Few weird/abnormalities. The embassy found traces on documents and cell phones which were taken off-sight from Saif but Chilean authorities didn't find anything on his clothings or body, that is clear sign of embassy officials trying to trap him. Secondly, two teams went to check his room and 1st team didn't find anything but 2nd team does, whoa!

more videos on family blog.. video page http://innocentsaif.wordpress.com/saif-videos/

New York times changes the story heading from :

“From Traces of Explosive, Chile Terror Inquiry Builds”

to this:

From Bomb Traces, Chile Terror Inquiry Builds

Journalism at its best!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/19/world/americas/19chile.html