The judge asked Umar to be unmuted during the proceedings and asked if he wished to say anything.
Khalid Tells Court, ‘Media Trial Continues, Seems to be Deliberate Design’
Khalid said the adversarial media reports have declared him not only as guilty but as the one who committed the crime. “This has continued to cause me distress and compromises my chances for a fair trial. This has continued despite me bringing it up in your court. Even on the day the court took cognisance of the matter, the next day a prominent daily published a news article on their front page with a headline that said ‘Umar Khalid, Tahir conspired on the riots’. This is despite the fact that my disclosure reads ‘refused to sign’, which means that the police can write anything on such a document. This includes extracts from my statements, which anyway do not have any value in courts, including from mine, Tahir Hussain or Khalid Saifi’s statements.”
The judge intervened and said that while they…