Amraiz Khan
Lahore
The Lahore High Court (LHC) has on Tuesday dismissed an appeal of a child pornography racketeer Saadat Amin against his sentence of seven years in prison. The court said the culprit will complete his jail term; the court also reserved the verdict. After the decision, the bail which had been granted to Saadat Amin earlier has also become ineffective. The plaintiff had termed his involvement in the case as baseless. He said the trial court had announced its verdict against him contrary to facts and requested the LHC to nullify the decision by declaring it illegal.
The appeal argued that Saadat Amin was not involved in recording any child pornographic video and the Prevention of Electronic Crime Act is not applicable on him. Let it be known that the trial court had earlier sentenced Saadat Amin to seven years in prison for child pornography racketeering despite insufficient evidences.Saadat Amin was arrested in 2018 and jailed for seven years in what was the country’s first-ever conviction for child pornography. Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) cybercrime cell launched the probe on the complaint of embassy of Norway in 2017.Amin was accused of being an active member of an international nexus of child pornographers with links in Sweden, Italy, UK and US.
The cyber crime circle of FIA accused him of “possessing, transmitting and producing pornographic pictures and sexually explicit videos” of children between the ages of 8 and 14 years old which were then sent over to James Lindstorm, his main client in Norway, as per local reports. The report also charged him for financial fraud through Western Union and MoneyGram. Amin received between $100 and $400 in separate transactions. The news triggered public anger over judiciary and police as many parents questioned the nature of law “that allows serious offenders to return to commit new crimes.”