Mumbai court permits ISIS recruit Areeb Majeed to fight case without a lawyer

Areeb Majeed is facing the charge of having participated in terrorist attacks against Iraq and Syria as an ISIS member

Alleged Islamic State (ISIS) recruit Areeb Majeed will defend himself. On Wednesday, the special court for National Investigating Agency (NIA) allowed him to fight his case without a lawyer.

According to NIA, Areeb Majeed had left to join ISIS in May 2014 on the pretext of a pilgrimage. (HT File)

Majeed is facing the charge of having participated in terrorist attacks against Iraq and Syria as an ISIS member. Last week, he moved a plea before the special court seeking permission to conduct the case on his own and to discontinue the services of his lawyer.

In his application, Majeed cited the case of Saquib Nachan, who was convicted in connection with the 2003 blast case. Nachan had studied while he was lodged in jail, eventually presenting his case on his own before the same court. He had cross-examined all the witnesses and made his final arguments before the court on his own.

Majeed had appointed former chief public prosecutor and the NIA’s special public prosecutor, Rohini Salian, to fight his case. However, following his plea, Salian withdrew from the case on Wednesday.

According to NIA, the 22-year-old engineer had left to join ISIS in May 2014, along with three other youths from Kalyan – Aman Tandel, 27, Fahad Maqbool Sheikh, 24 and Shaheen Tanki, 25 – on the pretext of a pilgrimage. The investigators said that Majeed wanted to return and made several attempts to do so. On November 24, he approached Indian Embassy in Turkey, claiming that he needed to go back to India and had lost his passport.