The Multan bench of the Lahore High Court ordered the release of German tourist Kim Laura Schweer on Tuesday. She had been in custody for two weeks.
Justice Mazhar Iqbal Sindhu also ordered the police to hand over the woman’s belongings and to apologise to her. He said officials responsible for keeping the woman detained in Dera Ghazi Khan District Prison would be kept in custody till they tendered an apology for their behaviour towards the woman. Prison Superintendent Muhammad Saif and ASP Muhammad Abdul Hafeez were held in court custody for over three hours. They were released after they wrote an apology to the court and Schweer. Schweer said she had limited time on her visa and wanted to explore Pakistan but “unfortunately most of my time was spent in jail”. She said she liked the country and its people but not the police. “They refused to release me even though the sessions court had ordered them to,” she said.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 2nd, 2014.