Pakistan announces release of Indian spy Hamid Nehal Ansari

Hamid Nehal Ansari is being repatriated to India.

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Pakistan has announced release of Indian spy Hamid Nehal Ansari today (Monday) upon completion of his sentence.

“Hamid Nehal Ansari, an Indian spy who had illegally entered Pakistan and was involved in anti-state crimes and forging documents, is being released upon completion of his sentence and is being repatriated to India,” the Foreign Office spokesperson confirmed through a Twitter message.

#HamidNehalAnsari, an Indian spy who had illegally entered Pakistan and was involved in anti-state crimes and forging documents, is being released upon completion of his sentence and is being repatriated to India.

— Dr Mohammad Faisal (@DrMFaisal) December 17, 2018

Ansari, a 33-year-old Mumbai resident, was lodged in Mardan Central Prison after being sentenced by a military court to three years’ imprisonment for possessing a fake Pakistani identity card on December 15, 2015.

He was arrested in Kohat district in November 2012 for illegally entering the country from Afghanistan.

The security agencies reported Ansari had used a fake identity card in the name of "Hamza" and he had entered Pakistan through Afghanistan without travel documents. They had charged him for ‘espionage’ and ‘anti-state activities’.

Earlier on Thursday, a two-judge Peshawar High Court bench, comprising Justice Roohul Amin and Justice Qalandar Ali Khan, heard an appeal filed by Ansari through a senior lawyer. The petition said that the federal government hasn’t taken any steps for his release.

Ansari’s lawyer, Qazi Muhammad Anwar, said that his client’s prison term will end on December 15 and he should be released on the morning of December 16.