MQM founder Altaf Hussain gets one month bail extension in hate speech inquiry

LONDON: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) founder Altaf Hussain    had his bail extended for one month on Thursday for a second time in relation to the incitement speech of August 2016 from London to a rally in Karachi.

A police source has told The News that the MQM founder and leader was asked to appear at the police station where he refused to answer questions  and went for 'no comments' about the incitement speech inquiry after Pakistani authorities produced new material to Scotland Yard detectives investigating the case, the investigation on which continues. 

Both the MQM and the police sources confirmed to The News that the MQM founder’s bail ends today and he was asked to appear at the police station in person to answer questions about the investigation, which is being led by officers from the Met's Counter Terrorism Command and is focused on a speech broadcast in August 2016 as well as other speeches previously broadcast by the same person.

After his arrest in June this year, the MQM founder was called again to appear at the police station to answer bail condition in second week of July 2019 but his bail at that time was extended through a letter by the police to his solicitors. 

This time, the police had decided to call him to the police station which means that the police had new questions to ask and there are new lines of inquiry.

Altaf Hussain’s arrest: What happens next

The police sources have confirmed to this correspondent that Altaf Hussain is under strict bail conditions while the investigation is on. He’s not allowed to address a crowd of people for fear of arousing them and he’s bound to stay at the designated address under curfew conditions from evening to morning. He cannot travel out of the UK without the police permission.

The MQM founder was arrested on June 11 2019 during a dawn raid at his home and taken to a south London police station. The Scotland Yard had said at that time that the MQM leader had been arrested on suspicion of intentionally encouraging or assisting offences contrary to Section 44 of the Serious Crime Act 2007.

- What is Section 44 - 

Intentionally encouraging or assisting an offence

(1)A person commits an offence if—

• (a) he does an act capable of encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence; and

• (b) he intends to encourage or assist its commission.

(2)But he is not to be taken to have intended to encourage or assist the commission of an offence merely because such encouragement or assistance was a foreseeable consequence of his act.