The KP ATC’s decision comes after Zahid Afridi’s lawyer argued that the charges are politically motivated.
Mohammad Zahid Afridi, youth president of Jamaat-e-Islami and spokesperson for the Bara Tirah Political Alliance, was detained by the police. Source: El Tribuno Express
A special anti-terrorism court in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has approved bail for Mohammad Zahid Afridi, a local political leader and head of the 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 plea and ordered that he be released on bail once arguments were completed. Afridi was arrested on December 24 and has remained 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 on the plains of Tirah for seven months in support of peace and local grievances. The defense argued that the terrorism charges against Afridi, which included alleged incitement against the state and state institutions, were unfounded and politically motivated and that there was no concrete evidence to justify his continued detention.
Local social media posts earlier reported that Afridi was detained by police in Tirah, a tribal area where tensions persist amid protests and demands for peace from local political groups, among other local grievances.
The case comes against the backdrop of the Pashtun National Jirga organized by the Tahafuz Pashtun Movement in October 2024, a group that had been banned under anti-terrorism laws before the event, which addressed complaints about security operations and rights issues in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
