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Pak court acquits Raymond Davis
US national Raymond Davis who was accused of killing two Pakistanis in a busy Lahore street in January was released by a Pakistani court on Wednesday under the country's Qisas and Diyat laws.
US national Raymond Davis who was accused of killing two Pakistanis in a busy Lahore street in January was released by a Pakistani court on Wednesday under the country's Qisas and Diyat laws.
Soon after, Davis was flown out of Pakistan on a chartered plane initially to Bagram Air Base on onward to London and the US, officials said.
Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah confirmed to journalists on Wednesday evening in Lahore that Davis was released after the court acquitted him.
Sanaullah said that blood money had been to the family of the two men who were killed.
"The court first indicted him but the families later told the court that they have accepted the blood money and they have pardoned him," Sanaullah said.
While Sanaullah took pains to clarify that the provincial Punjab government had nothing to do with the release, protests were launched in all major cities of Pakistan against both President Asif Ali Zardari and opposition party leader Nawaz Shari, whose party rules in the Punjab province.
The case had became a major test of ties between the United States and its vital ally Pakistan.
