RAWALPINDI: The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) hearing the Benazir Bhutto murder case may discard the statement of US lobbyist Mark Seigel, a key witness against former president and retired General Pervez Musharraf, because Mr Seigel has indicated that he wanted to change the time and venue of his testimony again.

“If the Foreign Ministry cannot procure his attendance, I will close [the] evidence of Mark Seigel,” ATC Judge Rai Ayub Marth said during the open court hearing of the case on Wednesday.

Legal experts say that Mr Seigel’s testimony would be important evidence against Gen Musharraf. Senior lawyer Dr Tariq Hassan told Dawn that Mr Seigel would corroborate the allegations levelled against the former military ruler by the late Benazir Bhutto, who was the victim in this case.

“It would be substantial evidence, since the victim herself conversed with [Mr Seigel] and told her what Musharraf said to her,” he said, adding, “it can be proven by obtaining call records from the relevant service providers”. In his opinion, excluding Mr Seigel would weaken the prosecution’s case.

Lobbyist’s repeated requests to reschedule irk ATC judge; experts say losing Seigel’s testimony would be bad for the case

During the hearing, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Special Prosecutor Mohammad Azhar Chaudhry informed the Judge about the latest email received from Mr Seigel.

In the email, the US-based lobbyist expressed his inability to reach the Pakistani embassy in Washington DC, the pre-decided venue where he would record his statement through video link

In 2012, the ATC had summoned Mark Seigel to record his statement in the Benazir murder case, but he cited security concerns and declined to come to Pakistan.

In 2015, the court summoned Mr Seigel again and the summons was delivered through the Pakistani embassy in Washington DC. In response, Mr Seigel agreed to record his statement via video link.

Subsequently, the ATC fixed Aug 26 and 27 as the dates where he would record his statement and arrangements in this regard were made in the Rawalpindi commissioner office.

On Aug 25, the commissioner’s office informed the ATC that Mr Seigel was suffering from kidney issues and was undergoing surgery, but would be available on Oct 1 and 2 at the embassy. The court assented to this request the next day.

At Wednesday’s hearing, the prosecutor told the court that in his latest email, Mr Seigel asked to reschedule once again, for medical reasons, and expressing his inability to testify from Washington DC, offered to be available on Sept 29 from New York City.

Malik Rafique, the defence counsel, pointed out that neither the prosecution, nor Mr Seigel had submitted any evidence related to his medical condition thus far.

This prompted ATC Judge Marth to remark: “If the witness does not come to testify, I would give up his evidence.”

The prosecution has cited four witnesses against Gen Musharraf and Mr Seigel is one of them.

The ATC has, so far, recorded the statements of former interior secretary Kamal Shah and former National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) director general, retired Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema. Both witnesses, in their testimony, did not link Gen Musharraf with Ms Bhutto’s assassination. The name of another witness, former Intelligence Bureau director general Ejaz Shah, was withdrawn by the prosecution.

As a result, prosecutors in the case believe Mr Seigel is the only one whose testimony can link Gen Musharraf to Benazir’s death.

According to the prosecution, Mr Siegel claimed that on September 25, 2007, in his presence at the office of Congressman Tom Lantos in Washington, Ms Bhutto received a telephone call, which she later described as “a very bad call” from Gen Musharraf.

The statement said that the former military ruler had warned Ms Bhutto that “her safety depends on the state of their (Musharraf and Benazir’s) relationship.”

According to Mr Siegel, Ms Bhutto sent him an email on October 26, 2007, in which she expressed her sense of insecurity. She also said that if something happened to her, she would hold the military ruler responsible, apart from the individuals mentioned in her letter to Gen Musharraf on Oct 16, 2007.

In the letter, Ms Bhutto had named retired Brigadier Ejaz Shah, retired Lt-Gen Hameed Gul and former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi.

According to the prosecution, another witness, former interior minister Rehman Malik, may also be called to testify before the ATC, to corroborate Mr Seigel’s statement.

Advocate Khawaja Imtiaz, the special prosecutor in the Benazir murder case, told Dawn that the ATC may close Mr Seigel’s evidence, but that would be the final option.

“In case there is no option left to record a witness’ statement, the court may give up the witness,” he said adding that in such a case, any statement of the same witness recorded earlier by the investigation agency would be treated as cancelled.

He said that the prosecution could file an application under Section 503 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), whereby the ATC can constitute a commission consisting of defence counsels and prosecutors to record Mr Seigel’s statement in the US.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2015

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