ISI agent Fai tagged, to stay under house arrest
While Fai was technically freed from custody, he was not released immediately and, even later, would remain incarcerated at home pending a trial.
By ET Bureau | Updated:
NEW DELHI: ISI agent Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai was remanded to house arrest with electronic monitoring by a US court on Tuesday. The conditional bail was granted after posting a $100,000 bond.
Reports from Washington said Judge John Anderson ruled that Fai could be detained at home with electronic tags and restricted movement, including ordering the impounding of his passport and that of his wife, a federal government worker who was accepted as his guarantor. He also warned Fai against any contact with his co-defendant Zaheer Ahmed (who is in Pakistan), or with representatives of any foreign government or agency.
The Fai case was investigated by the FBI's counterterrorism division. The FBI affidavit had said that the Washington DC-based Kashmiri-American Council run by Fai is one of three "Kashmir Centers...run by elements of the government of Pakistan".
The investigation, the affidavit noted, "has revealed that elements of the government of Pakistan, including the ISI, have been directly involved with activities of Fai and that Fai has acted at the direction and with the financial support of those elements..., including the ISI".
The affidavit had named Fai's primary supervisor within the ISI as Brigadier Javeed Aziz, who also goes by the nickname "Rathore" and three others, including Touqeer Mehmood Butt, Sohail Mahmood, and an individual nicknamed "Abdullah".
Reports from Washington said after the court passed the order on conditional bail, some two dozen Fai supporters, including his oriental-origin wife Chang Ning Ying and collegiate son, received the ruling with mixed emotions. While Fai was technically freed from custody, he was not released immediately and, even later, would remain incarcerated at home pending a trial.
FBI special agent Sarah Webb Linden, reports from Washington said, briefly took the stand and maintained that Fai typically did the ISI and Pakistan's bidding and lied to her about it, even as the defence counsel tried to establish that he was an independent operator who only had Kashmiri interests at heart and often went against the ISI script on Kashmir, in an ostensible attempt to get him off the charge that he was a Pakistani frontman.
Reports from Washington said Judge John Anderson ruled that Fai could be detained at home with electronic tags and restricted movement, including ordering the impounding of his passport and that of his wife, a federal government worker who was accepted as his guarantor. He also warned Fai against any contact with his co-defendant Zaheer Ahmed (who is in Pakistan), or with representatives of any foreign government or agency.
The Fai case was investigated by the FBI's counterterrorism division. The FBI affidavit had said that the Washington DC-based Kashmiri-American Council run by Fai is one of three "Kashmir Centers...run by elements of the government of Pakistan".
The investigation, the affidavit noted, "has revealed that elements of the government of Pakistan, including the ISI, have been directly involved with activities of Fai and that Fai has acted at the direction and with the financial support of those elements..., including the ISI".
The affidavit had named Fai's primary supervisor within the ISI as Brigadier Javeed Aziz, who also goes by the nickname "Rathore" and three others, including Touqeer Mehmood Butt, Sohail Mahmood, and an individual nicknamed "Abdullah".
Reports from Washington said after the court passed the order on conditional bail, some two dozen Fai supporters, including his oriental-origin wife Chang Ning Ying and collegiate son, received the ruling with mixed emotions. While Fai was technically freed from custody, he was not released immediately and, even later, would remain incarcerated at home pending a trial.
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FBI special agent Sarah Webb Linden, reports from Washington said, briefly took the stand and maintained that Fai typically did the ISI and Pakistan's bidding and lied to her about it, even as the defence counsel tried to establish that he was an independent operator who only had Kashmiri interests at heart and often went against the ISI script on Kashmir, in an ostensible attempt to get him off the charge that he was a Pakistani frontman.
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