Federal and provincial governments strongly opposed bail of Sadaat Amin who was sentenced to seven-year imprisonment after he was found guilty of making porn videos of children in Sargodha district of Punjab.
LAHORE: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-May 19th, 2020) The Lahore High Court turned down appeal of a member of an international child-pornography racket and maintained the decision of a trial court here on Tuesday.
A LHC single bench comprising Justice Farooq Haider passed the order after federal and the provincial government strongly opposed his bail, pleading that huge record of porn videos were recovered from the personal computer of the convict.
The law officials said that the bail of the convict could be dangerous as he was member of an international racket involved in producing porn videos of children in Pakistan.
The sources say that the judge recalled its previous order announced in an open court wherein the convict was granted bail against surety bonds of Rs. 0.2 million ($1260). The order for the release of convict Sadaat Amin triggered a debate on social media and raised many important questions over the judicial system of the country.
On May 16, 2020, a release issued by Attorney General for Pakistan confirmed that the case was being fixed again for hearing before the Lahore High Court on May 19, 2020.
“A spokesperson for the office the Attorney General for Pakistan has stated that the Federal government was in the process challenging the order reportedly passed by the Lahore High Court. On 14-5-2020 for release of Sadaat Amin who was convicted and sentenced for seven years in prisonment for his involvement as a member international racket of child pornography,” the statement read.
The AGP office had claimed that no formal order was announced by the Lahore High Court regarding release of convict Sadaat Amin, saying that the case was once again fixed for hearing on May 19, 2020 whereby the federal government would vehemently oppose the release of the convict as he was convicted for committing heinous offense of children’ pornography.
Saadat Amin, 48, is serving his sentence in Kot Lakhpat Jail.
Federal Investigation Agency said that the convict who originally belonged to Malakwal of Mandi Bahauddin district in Punjab was living in Sargodha city in a rented house and was working from Pakistan for international child pornographers including Jan Lindstorm in Norway, Giobani Betotti in Italy, Mukhtar and Andrew Moody in the UK and Max Hunter in the US since 2007.
The Pakistani authorities expressed serious concerns over bail of Sadaat Amin.
“The court is going to recall its decision,” a prosecutor of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) claimed.
“Initially, the government decided to challenge the verdict but the court didn’t share its decision with anyone,” he said, adding that the sentence of the convict was suspended and the order for his release was announced in an open court.
The court’s decision caused an heated debate on social media about the children’ rights and judicial system in Pakistan.
FIA Assistant Director (Legal) Munam Bashir Chaudhary said that there was maximum seven-year imprisonment for the suspects involved in children’ pornography. He believed that the sentence of seven-year imprisonment was very short and it must be doubled, so that such incidents could come to an end in the country.
“The sentence must be increased from seven years to 14 years,” said Munam Bashir Chaudhary, who pursued the case of Saadat Amin before the trial court. He pointed out that effective legislation was required for maximum punishment for the suspects involved in such crimes.
Norwegian Embassy had written a letter to Interior Ministry exposing Sadaat Amin and his nexus with international racket.
On April 11, 2017, FIA team headed by Cyber Crime Wing Assistant Director Mian Saqib arrested Saadat Amin from a rented home in Corporation Town of Sargodha and booked him under sections 109 and 420 of Pakistan Penal Code as well as under sections 20, 21 and 22 of PECA, 2016.
The agency recovered 600,000 porn videos and pictures from the computer of the convict. Saadat who was involved in porn-video business since 2007 originally belongs to Malakwal of Mandi Bahauddin district, but he was living in Sargodha city in a rented house for several years.
Amin had earlier claimed that he left the sale of porn videos and broke the network in Dec 2015, but his Norwegian partner Jan Lindstorm continued it. His arrest in 2016 by the Norwegian police finally led the investigation to him, he said.
