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Wife moves court for Najam Sethi's release

Jugnoo Mohsin, the wife of journalist Najam Sethi who is held by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency today petitioned the Supreme Court for his release on bail, a court official said.

Mohsin said in her petition that until the court decides the main appeal against her husband's detention he be "allowed interim bail".

Sethi, editor of the weekly, The Friday Times newspaper, has been held by the army-run intelligence agency since May 8.

The court had ordered last week that family and Sethi's lawyers be allowed to see him at least once a week. The court orders came after the journalist had already was kept away from his family for 12 days.

Sethi was picked up from his Lahore residence by the authorities in a midnight swoop.

Formal charges are yet to be lodged against Sethi but the ISI was interrogating him over suspected links with the Research and Analysis Wing, an Indian spy service.

Pakistan's chief prosecutor Chaudhry Mohammad Farooq argued before the Supreme Court last week that, since Sethi had been held under the Pakistan Armed Forces Act, the ISI could interrogate him for 32 days without producing him before a court of law.

This argument prompted some critical remarks from Justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqi, who is heading the three-member bench hearing the petition on Sethi's detention.

"This is a question of fundamental public liberties and of great concern, and we would therefore like to first settle the question as to whether the ISI was a part of the army and whether arrest under the Armed Forces Act shut out recourse to civilian courts," Siddiqi said.

The court set May 31 for the next hearing, which is likely to deal with the question Siddiqi raised.

Sethi's arrest came in the wake of intimidation of several critical journalists and sparked protests at home and abroad.

Following strong reactions from the United States and the European Union last week, three US senators -- Paul Wellstone, Edward Kennedy, and Robert Torricelli -- yesterday sent a letter to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief urging him to allow the press and non-governmental organisations to function freely.

"These actions (against journalists and NGOs) may create obstacles to improvements in relations between our two countries," the letter dated May 18 said.

The government had banned some 3,000 NGOs across Pakistan allegedly for indulging in corruption and malpractice.

Defending it's arrest of Sethi, the government said he was arrested not for his critical views but for his "anti-Pakistan conduct" during a seminar on April 30 at New Delhi.

The attorney-general also placed before the court the report by Pakistan's high commissioner to India, which ostensibly became the basis for his arrest.

However, his wife Jugnu Mohsin, who publishes The Friday Times, said her spouse was being punished for his outspoken articles and editorials on the state of affairs in the country.

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