US consulate rioting case put off because of covid-19 crisis

An anti-terrorism court on Friday adjourned the hearing of a case pertaining to the 2012 rioting outside the United States consulate in Karachi till June 5, without conducting any proceeding due to the coronavirus crisis.

The ATC put off the hearing after the only arrested suspect, Syed Sadiq Raza, who is on bail, did not appear and his lawyer submitted an application, seeking exemption for his client from appearing given the COVID spread.

The ATC had granted interim bail to Raza who appeared before the judge after obtaining a protective bail from the Sindh High Court. The court had ordered him to submit a surety of Rs100,000. He showed up in the court after seven years of the issuance of warrants against him. Raza was nominated in the FIR by the police in September, 2012, after over 1,000 people staged a demonstration outside the consulate in protest against the an anti-Islam movie ‘Innocence of Muslims’ on the call of the Imamaia Students Organisation and the Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen.

The protesters had marched from the Numaish Chowrangi and after removing the barricades they reached the MT Khan Road to protest outside the US consulate. To disperse the crowd, the police had resorted to aerial firing and shelling. The situation had got worsened when some of the protesters scaled the wall of the consulate and tried to put up their flag there.

At least six people were injured, including two critically with bullet wounds, who were rushed for medical treatment. A violence had broken out after the shooting which resulted in torching of a traffic police check post, three police vans and a petrol station. No consulate staffer was wounded in the event.