Mark Siegel, a key prosecution witness in the high-profile Benazir Bhutto assassination case, will be available for cross-examination in the first week of November, the Foreign Office informed the anti-terrorism court on Monday.
ATC judge Roy Ayub Marth was further informed that arrangements for cross-examination of the American lobbyist would be made at the office of Rawalpindi commissioner.
In his testimony on October 3 through a video conference from the Pakistan Embassy in Washington, Mark Seigel told the court that former president Pervez Musharraf had threatened ex-premier Bhutto weeks before she was assassinated in Rawalpindi.
“Your security is dependent on the relationship between us,” Musharraf was quoted as having said to Bhutto on December 25, 2007.
Seigel claimed he was present with Bhutto during the 15-minute long telephone call at the office of US Senator Tom Lantos. The former president however denied all these allegations.
Nevertheless, the court declared SSP Tahir Ayub, a member of the joint investigation team formed after Benazir Bhutto’s murder on December 27, 2007, as absconder due to his absence despite issuance of multiple summon-notices. The court also summoned inspector Kashif for cross-examination on October 14.