Raymond Davis, the alleged CIA contract employee who was charged with murder in Pakistan after gunning down two would be robbers, has been freed by a Pakistani court.
Pakistan's English language daily Dawn reports:
A Pakistan court on Wednesday freed CIA contractor Raymond Davis, who was accused of murdering two men in Lahore, after blood money was paid in accordance with sharia law, the Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said."The family members of the slain men appeared in the court and independently verified they had pardoned him (Davis)," provincial law minister Rana Sanaullah told a private television.
"He has been released from jail. Now it is up to him. He can go wherever he wants," he added.
The lawyer representing the victims, Asad Manzoor Butt, said he was not allowed to appear for the hearing. The lawyer alleged that Davis possibly escaped from the prison with the consent of the authorities, DawnNews reported.
The lawyer further claimed that he was kept in unlawful confinement, according to DawnNews.
PML-N spokesman Pervez Rasheed the Punjab government was not involved in the release of Davis, DawnNews reported.
Could all of that be true? Anything is possible but Dawn is not the most reliable media outlet. At the time of Davis' arrests, they reported that the two street thugs he shot were "commuters."
Nevertheless, ABC has confirmed that Davis is a free man. The alleged CIA contractor was holding an American diplomatic passport at the time of his arrest so Pakistan is only doing what it should have done once that fact had been established; released him under the terms of the Vienna Accords which grant diplomatic immunity to those working at consulates and embassies.
Is he CIA? There are certainly strange circumstances surrounding this case and another case from 2009 where Davis was stopped in a car full of guns and other spy equipment. That case was dropped after intervention from the consulate in Lahore so it is very possible Davis is a spook, or has a contract with our intelligence agencies.
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