KARACHI – Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of model Ayyan Ali’s contempt of court case against the Interior Ministry till May 16.
The case was filed by Ayyan against the Interior Ministry and authorities concerned for not omitting her name from exit control list (ECL) despite the orders of the Supreme Court. Ayyan’s lawyer Qadir Mandokhel argued that the name of her client could not be named in the ECL before the final verdict of SC.
He requested the court to announce the decision of the case in 10 days as Ayyan had signed a contract worth Rs10 million for which she has to depart abroad. The additional attorney general adopted the stance that Ayyan’s plea is inadmissible for hearing.
He explained that Ayyan’s name was excluded from the ECL but was included again after the issuance of a new notification. He stated that the the model should file a new plea for the removal of her name. Ali was booked in March last year at Islamabad’s Benazir International Airport for attempting to smuggle US $506,800 to United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The Airport Security Force (ASF) had apprehended Ayyan before she allegedly boarded a private airline’s flight. After almost nine months of her arrest, the model was indicted in the currency smuggling case but she pleaded not guilty to the charges.
