Abdul Qadeer Khan, who was accused of selling nuclear technology abroad, was freed from house arrest by a Pakistani court on Friday. From The New York Times:
Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan waves to journalists outside his home in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Friday after a court declared him free from house arrest. Photo: EPA
A Pakistani court freed one of the most successful nuclear proliferators in history, Abdul Qadeer Khan, from house arrest on Friday, lifting the restrictions imposed on him since 2004 when he publicly confessed to running an illicit nuclear network.
Mr. Khan, 73, considered in the West as a rogue scientist and a pariah who sold technology to North Korea, Libya and Iran, is revered as a national hero in Pakistan for his role in transforming the country into a nuclear power.
The ruling to set him free seemed as much a political decision as a legal one, intended to shore up support for the government of President Asif Ali Zardari, which has been derided in the Pakistani press as being too close to the United States. The government has been under intense domestic pressure to free Mr. Khan, and that outweighed the backlash that Mr. Zardari knew the action would cause in Washington.
From BBC: Mixed emotions over Khan release
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Nuclear weapons are a hideous creation. One that humanity would do much better without. That being said however, how is it that those who set the rules for ‘proliferation’ are the only ones who ever used this damn thing, and hardly bothered to apologize. How is it, that Pakistan’s weapons are ‘illegal’ and ‘insecure’ while you are accepted into the nuclear club and provided assistance. How is it, that your scientists can become presidents, while Pakistan’s must go to jail? Was every component of the Indian bomb produced inside India? Yeah right.
Wish you all the luck with smearing the people and government of Pakistan, but remember that injustice only lasts so long.