Former MP M. M. Zuhair asks for the release of Easter attack suspects

• Says many are in State custody for over three and half years without bail 

Issuing a statement, he said over 2,000 suspects had been reportedly arrested over the Easter Sunday attacks of 21/04/2019, many on false information, some of them subsequently released by the investigating police, some by the Attorney General and some by the Courts, but there are still others in State custody for over three and half years without bail and without being charged, many of them from poor families.

 The statement said, “The Attorney General is empowered under the criminal procedure of the country to evaluate the police investigations and to charge, indict or discharge and release suspects depending on the availability or the absence of evidentiary material in each case. The Attorney General is duty bound to indict only those against whom there is reasonable evidence and to release those detained on unfounded allegations or sans any supporting evidence, without burdening the already overloaded criminal law courts of the country.

There are serious complaints of suspects, including from many women, being arrested because they happened to be close relatives of the accused. Several of them are in custody for nearly three and a half years without being charged or released. These cases must be urgently addressed by the Attorney General who must release those without any evidence of involvement in the Easter attacks in the interest of justice or at least consent to bail, under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) law.