SINDH: Sindh High Court (SHC) ordered the authorities to clear off model Ayyan Ali’s name from the Exit Control List (ECL).
Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto announced to accept the model’s application regarding removal of her name from ECL.
SHC Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah appointed Justice Phulpoto as a referee judge last month to overlook Ayyan’s plea. Previously, her plea was already rejected by judges on the division bench except for one that accepted her petition.
Her name was cleared from the ECL by interior minister but hours later; her name was back on the list.
The model urged the federal government through an application to allow her to travel abroad since the court had already directed the authorities to take her name off the ECL.
Ayyan had pleaded the court to remove her name from the ECL in 2015. Her counselor stated that having her name on the ECL list was illegal because the authorities had already returned her passport.
The model informed that she was bailed from the jail so that she could travel abroad for professional work and medical treatment. However, her name was still not struck off from the ECL.
Ayyan declared that under Article 18 of the constitution, it was illegal for the authorities to disallow her from traveling abroad.
Customs court marked Ayyan for smuggling more than half a million dollars in cash out of the country, for which she did not plead guilty.
The model was taken into custody on March 14, 2015 on the allegation of money laundering after custom officials retrieved $506,600 from her at Islamabad’s Benazir Bhutto International Airport. She was on her way to board a flight to Dubai.
Her judicial remand was prolonged for at least 16 times. She was held in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail for four months. Finally she granted bail in July last year.
