Pakistan court frees doctors jailed for Qaeda ties

KARACHI, Mar 10 (Reuters) A Pakistani high court today ordered the release of two doctors sentenced last year to seven years imprisonment for working with an al Qaeda-linked group, lawyers said.

Akmal Waheed and Arshad Waheed were convicted by an anti-terrorism court in March 2005 of sheltering militants and raising funds for militant activities, as well as treating a wounded militant.

Ilyas Khan, a defence lawyer, said the High Court of Sindh had suspended the lower court's order, and had ordered the release of the two brothers.

''The prosecution has miserably failed to prove charges against my clients in the High Court and both of my clients are free now,'' Khan said.

Iqtidar Ali Hashmi, a public prosecutor, said the government could appeal. ''We are reviewing the court order and will take a decision on filing an appeal very soon,'' Hashmi said.

The brothers were arrested after an ambush in June 2004 aimed at assassinating Lieutenant-General Ahsan Saleem Hayat, who was then corps commander in the southern city of Karachi.

Hayat, now a full general and vice chief of the army, escaped unharmed, but 10 people, including six soldiers, were killed and 12 other people wounded in the attack by the al Qaeda-linked Jundullah group.

Last month an anti-terrorism court sentenced 11 members of the group to death after finding them guilty.

Police suspect Jundullah was also involved in a suicide car bomb attack that killed four people, including an American diplomat, outside the US consulate in Karachi last week.

Government officials and Western interests have been targeted by al Qaeda-linked groups in Pakistan since President Prevez Musharraf pledged support for the US-led war on terrorism in the wake of September. 11 attacks on the United States.

REUTERS SI PM1354