Muzaffarabad court rejects poet Ahmed Farhad’s bail plea

MUZAFFARABAD: An anti-terrorism court in Muzaffarabad has rejected the bail petition of poet Ahmed Farhad.

The development comes a day after the court reserved its verdict after hearing arguments from both sides. Speaking with journalists about the court orders, the poet’s wife Urooj Zainab said she will challenge the decision.

“Details of why the bail was rejected were not disclosed,” she said addressing the press. Just two days before the hearing of his bail plea, the ATC had ordered a medical examination of the poet amid concerns of slow poisoning.

Last week, the ATC ordered a medical examination of the poet by a team of doctors from the Abbas Institute of Medical Sciences. The development came during the hearing of case involving Farhad whose counsel, Iman Mazari, requested the court to have the Kashmiri poet medically examined.

Mazari said that Farhad was transferred to Muzaffarabad from DhirKot under multiple sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA).

Farhad, known for his defiant prose, came into the spotlight after he went missing during recent protests in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.