Journalist Faizullah Khan on Wednesday alleged that Afghan judges had demanded Rs1.8 million for his release from an Afghan jail where he was being detained for crossing into Afghanistan without legal documents.
Khan, who was sentenced to five years in jail, was set free through an executive order by former Afghan president Kamid Karzai on Sunday (September 28) after more than five months of imprisonment in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar Amoomy Mahbus (Nangarhar General Prison).
The Pashtun journalist made the statements at the Karachi Press Club where a reception was hosted in his honour.
Khan claimed that he had “unknowingly” entered Afghanistan on April 22 and was arrested by Jalalabad Police on April 25 on charges ranging from spying to entering the country without possessing legal documents.
Khan’s freedom came as a result of efforts from the journalist fraternity, government, human rights and diplomatic circles. His advocates include the likes of President Mamnoon Hussain, Malala Yousafzai, journalist Saleem Safi, Jamaat-e-Islami Amir Sirajul Haq, Federal Information Minister Pervez Rasheed, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its spokesperson Tasneem Aslam.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Khan said, “The judiciary in Afghanistan is highly corrupt.”
Without naming any court, he said that a middle man approached him who said that the Afghan judges were demanding Rs 1.8 million for his release.
“I was desperate to come out of jail and was approaching different people. Then after a month or so after my arrest, the judges’ message came to me,” said Khan.
The reporter who works for a private news channel said at least 60 Pakistani Taliban, some with families, were imprisoned in the same jail but in separate barracks.
Khan said his five-month ordeal cost him at least Rs 0.3 million. “The money was spent on ordering meals from a restaurant as the prison officials were providing the inmates ‘unhygienic food,” he said.
