Santiago: A Chilean court ordered back to jail on Saturday a Pakistani man who had been charged and briefly detained after traces of explosives were found on him as he visited the US embassy, officials said.
The court designated 28-year-old Mauhannas Saif ur Rehnab
Khan "a danger to society" and revoked his freedom after he was released last week on probation following charges of illegally possessing weapons, but not of violating an anti-terror law.
The court was responding to an appeal filed by prosecutors on Thursday against Khan's release that asked he be placed under preventative detention.
The Interior Ministry had also joined the attorney general in requesting preventive detention.
Khan, an intern at a Santiago hotel, had gone to the embassy on May 10 after being called in for a discussion about his US visa, which had been revoked.
He was arrested after going through a security check, where embassy officials discovered traces of a TNT explosive on his hands, cell phone, bag and documents.
The Pakistani national has denied the illegal explosives charge, saying he harbours no malice toward the United States, where he has relatives. He said on Tuesday his predicament was simply "a big misunderstanding stemming from a mistaken identity”.
Khan was detained a week after the arrest in the United States of a naturalised US citizen born in Pakistan, who US authorities accuse of having planted a car bomb on May 01 in New York's Times Square.
It failed to explode, and Faisal Shahzad was arrested as he tried to leave the United States on a flight to Dubai.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, May 23, 2010, 09:05