THE GUARDIAN: LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — An American CIA employee accused of murdering two Pakistanis appeared handcuffed in a Pakistani court on Friday, where he refused to sign a charge sheet after claiming diplomatic immunity, officials said.
The detention of Raymond Allen Davis has severely frayed ties between the U.S. and Pakistan, whose counterterrorism alliance is considered a crucial part of ending the war in Afghanistan.
Washington insists Davis is immune from prosecution because he is listed as a U.S. Embassy staff member. It says Davis shot two Pakistanis in self-defense when they tried to rob him in late January in the eastern city of Lahore.
Pakistani officials, wary of a backlash in a population rife with anti-American sentiment, have declined to confirm whether Davis has diplomatic immunity, saying the matter is up to the courts.
During Friday's hearing, which was held in a Lahore jail and closed to the public, prosecutors tried to present the handcuffed Davis with a charge sheet.
The judge also asked whether Davis had engaged a defense attorney, according to Asad Manzoor Butt, a lawyer for a Pakistani bystander who was killed when struck by an American car rushing to assist Davis after the shootings.
But Davis refused to sign the charge sheet and said he did not want to participate in the case because he has immunity from prosecution under international agreements covering diplomats, said Butt, who attended the hearing. >>> Babar Dogar, AP foreign, with contributions from Riaz Khan in Peshawar | Friday, February 25, 2011
