The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) sleuths who were to produce Attorney at Law Hejaaz Hizbullah before the courts yesterday (07) claimed they were unable to do so as he had contracted Covid 19. Hizbullah was arrested last year over his alleged connection to the Easter Sunday bombings of 21 April 2019.
The CID was set to produce him before the Fort Magistrates Court when the case against him was taken up but did not do so. Instead they informed the court that he had tested positive for Covid 19. Previously Hizbullah’s wife and counsels had been informed that he would be produced in courts at 2 pm on the day.
The “Justice for Hejaaz” campaign had tweeted yesterday: “The CID claims that Hizbullah who was to be produced in court today, has tested positive for Covid-19. He is now being kept under quarantine.”
The Sunday Morning newspaper had reported his family members have expressed concerns on how he is said to have contracted Covid just before being produced before the courts.
“How does this happen? Every time someone important, who is connected to the investigations into the bombings, is to be produced before court or set to testify, they get infected by Covid-19.” Human rights activist Shreen Saroor was quoted as questioning by the paper.
Human rights activist Ruki Fernando had also queried as to how Hizbullah, someone who is in detention within an extremely constricted and restricted space and with very limited access to others in the custody of the State, contracted Covid-19.
