SANTIAGO: A Pakistani man has been freed from detention in Chile pending an investigation into how and why traces of explosive were found on him when he visited the US embassy in Santiago, officials said Tuesday.
Muhammad Saif-ur-Rehman Khan, 28, was released from a 120-day detention period in a high-security prison imposed on him two weeks ago when his probation was revoked on appeal.
He will be required to remain in Santiago and confirm his presence every two weeks under the terms of his release, court officials told AFP.
Khan is being investigated on charges of illegally possessing explosives, but not the more serious accusation of violating an anti-terror law originally sought by Chilean authorities.
A tourism student who arrived in Chile three months ago, Khan went to the US embassy on May 10 after being called in for a discussion about his US visa, which had been revoked.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 harbors no malice toward the United States, where he has relatives.
He has said his predicament was “a big misunderstanding stemming from a mistaken identity.”
His arrest came a week after the arrest in the United States of a naturalized US citizen born in Pakistan, Faisal Shahzad, whom US authorities accuse of planting a car bomb on May 1 in New York's Times Square.
Khan's parents flew into Santiago from Islamabad to support their son and to declare his innocence.
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