Raymond Davis, CIA agent freed after U.S. pays family ’blood money’

Mangaloretoday News Network

Islamabad, March 17, 2011:  There was rioting on the streets of Pakistan tonight after a CIA agent who shot two men dead was released over a secret ’blood money’ pact with the U.S.

Raymond Allen Davis has been in jail since January 27, seriously straining ties between Pakistan and America, but was released after the families of the dead were paid $2.3 million to drop the case.

Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah says Davis was charged with murder on Wednesday but was then pardoned by the families of the victims in exchange for the compensation payment.

 

 

Protest: Activists of the Pakistani fundamentalist Islamic party Jamaat-i-Islami shout slogans as they march toward the US embassy during a protest against the release Raymond Davis

The petition filed by barrister Iqbal Jafri in the Lahore High Court stated that the families of the two dead Pakistani nationals - Faizan and Faheem - were pressurised by the government into pardoning Davis, Dawn News reported.

The petition said Davis’ pardoning and immediate release was in violation of the law, and requested the court to invalidate the decision and direct the authorities to initiate proceedings against those who brought about his release.

A court in Lahore on Wednesday had acquitted Davis after payment of compensation. A US Air Force plane carrying 12 men, reportedly including Davis, later took off from Lahore airport for Afghanistan.

Davis, 36, shot dead two Pakistanis on a motorcycle in Lahore on January 27, in what he described as an attempted armed robbery. He claimed he acted in self-defence.

 

Freed: CIA agent Raymond Davis has been freed after the families of the dead men were paid ’blood money’. This picture shows him in February after his arrest. Relieved: Rebecca Davis, wife of freed CIA agent Raymond Davis, maintained her husband was innocent and was ’no Rambo’

 

He was a member of a security team assigned to protect CIA operatives in Lahore collecting intelligence on militant groups.

Various religious and political parties as well as social and lawyers’ organisations held protests in different cities against Davis’s acquittal on Thursday, Geo News said.

In Multan, lawyers of the district and high courts boycotted court proceedings, while activists of the Jamat-e-Islami staged demonstrations.

Political parties and the Labour Qaumi Movement held protests in Faisalabad.

Protesters chanted slogans against Davis and burnt tyres in Laki Marwat, Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzaffarghar, Charsada, and cities in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.