KP ATC’s decision comes after Zahid Afridi’s lawyer argues charges were politically motivated
Mohammad Zahid Afridi, youth president of Jamaat-e-Islami and spokesperson of the Bara Tirah Political Alliance, was arrested by the police. Source: La PK Press Club Express
A special anti-terrorism court in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has approved the bail of Mohammad Zahid Afridi, a local political leader and head of Bara Political Alliance and youth wing Jamaat-e-Islami Tirah, in a terrorism case, court officials said.
Justice Fareed Khan Alizai of the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) heard Afridi’s bail application and ordered his release on bail after the conclusion of proceedings. Afridi was arrested on December 24 and has been in custody since then.
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Afridi’s lawyer, Farhad Afridi, told the court that his client had been leading a peaceful sit-in in the Tirah plains for seven months in support of peace and local demands. The defense argued that the terrorism charges against Afridi, which include alleged incitement against the state and its institutions, were baseless and politically motivated and that there was no concrete evidence to justify his continued detention.
Local social media posts had previously reported that Afridi was arrested by police in Tirah, a tribal area where tensions persist amid protests and demands for peace from local political groups, among other local grievances.
This case comes against the backdrop of the National Pashtun Jirga organized by the Tahafuz Pashtun Movement in October 2024, a group that had been banned under anti-terrorism laws before the event, and which addressed grievances regarding security operations and rights issues in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
