ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A Pakistani court declared disgraced nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan free on Friday, ending five years of house arrest for the man at the center of the world's most serious proliferation scandal.
Khan, lionized by many Pakistanis as the father of the country's atomic bomb, confessed to selling nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya in 2004, but was immediately pardoned by the government, although his movements were restricted to effective house arrest.
"It's a matter of joy. The judgment, by the grace of Allah, is good," Khan told reporters outside his Islamabad house soon after news of the High Court ruling broke.
"It is because of this judgment that I am speaking to you," said the 72-year-old scientist, who has been treated for prostate cancer.
Khan's detention had been relaxed over the past year and he had been allowed to meet friends and had traveled to the city of Karachi at least once under tight security.
He had also given a series of interviews to media after a new government came to power last March but was barred from speaking to reporters by a July court ruling.
Khan's lawyer Ali Zafar said the High Court had declared that he was not involved in nuclear proliferation or criminal activity and there was no case against him.
"The court has ordered that he's a free man," Zafar told Reuters.
Pakistan has never let foreign investigators question Khan, saying it had passed on all relevant information about his nuclear proliferation.
The government had for long maintained that Khan was not officially under house arrest but was being held for his own security. It was not immediately clear to what extent security agencies would still restrict his movements.
SMUGGLED BLUEPRINTS
Pakistan regards the case as closed, but U.S. and international nuclear experts investigating proliferation still want to question him.
Last year, a U.N. nuclear watchdog said Khan's network smuggled nuclear blueprints to Iran, Libya and North Korea and was active in 12 countries.
The U.S. State Department said last month it had imposed sanctions on 13 individuals and three private companies because of their involvement in Khan's network.
Khan said he was proud of what he had done for Pakistan, in making it safe from India, and said he had no need to answer to any foreign government.
"I will always be proud about what I did for Pakistan," he told reporters. "I am obliged to answer only to my government not to any foreigners," he said.
*******RELIAPUNDIT ADDS: HERE'S THE NYT HEADLINE:
Pakistan Frees Nuclear Dealer in Snub to U.S.NO: IT WAS A SNUB TO OBAMA; HIS WEAK AND APPEASING ATTITUDE IS INVITING OUR FOES TO BECOME BOLDER.
THINGS ARE GETTING WORSER AND WORSER FASTER AND FASTER..
BRACE YOURSELVES... A MAJOR "TEST" IS COMING...
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