Supreme Court gives Malik Riaz seven more days to hire counsel

The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday granted Malik Riaz, the real estate tycoon, a period of seven days to find a lawyer to defend him, directing the twin-cities’ bar associations to not stop anyone from taking his case.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Court Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan resumed hearing for a show-cause notice issued to Bahria Town former chief Malik Riaz Hussain over a controversial press conference.

Despite passage of given time, the property tycoon failed to hire a solicitor in the case as most people from legal fraternity have been avoiding Raiz Malik to show their solidarity with the apex court against the alleged conspiracies hatched against it.

Malik Riaz informed the court that he was facing a media-trial, seeking ten more days to hire a lawyer for his defence. He committed, “I will face the punishment worth of a criminal in case I failed to my commitment”.

Justice Shakiullah Jan remarked, “Every citizen has the right to be able to defend himself and in case Malik Riaz could not arrange a defence lawyer for himself, the state would provide him with one”.

He noted, “Whichever lawyer I contact refuses to cooperate with me. Raymond Davis could hire a lawyer but I cannot”.

Islamabad High Court Bar Association President Chaudhry Muhammad Ashraf Gujjar, who is also a petitioner, informed the court that no one was stopping Malik Riaz from hiring the services of a lawyer for his defence.

He made it clear that the defendant could avail the services of any lawyer within his personal capacity and no bar association would cause obstruction to it. He also prayed the court to grant the real estate tycoon four days to hire a solicitor.

The propriety tycoon had made a request to the court to provide him with tighten security on the occasion of his court appearance. He expressed that his life in danger and that he was receiving threats from unknown people.

According to the reports some lawyers threatened him during one of his court appearance and others had mistreated him on another occasion. He also requested the court to stop media which incites people against him.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Jun 21 2012. Filed under National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.