US diplomat Col Joseph flown out of Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: A United States diplomat, who allegedly rammed into a motorcycle killing a civilian in Islamabad, has reportedly been flown out of the country, informed sources told ARY News.

According to diplomatic sources, United States Military Attache Colonel Joseph Emanuel Hall left for the United States via Afghanistan on a charted flight which had arrived on Saturday.

On April 7, Colonel Joseph ran a red light and rammed into a motorcycle killing a Pakistani civilian. He was let go by police officials after the accident as he had diplomatic immunity from criminal prosecution.

Col Joseph enjoyed diplomatic under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961. A writ petition filed in the Islamabad High Court was dismissed on Monday.

The court on Friday has said that the embassy official did not have complete immunity, and had sought a reply from the Interior Ministry to place him on the Exit Control List (ECL).

Police have also handed over all records related to Colonel Hall to US officials. The US government had refused to exempt Joseph from the diplomatic immunity

Hall was reportedly a certified envoy who enjoys diplomatic immunity, and the criminal, civil, and administrative laws of Pakistan are not applicable to the US envoy.

On Saturday, a special aircraft had landed at the Nur Khan Airbase to take Colonel Joseph, but was prevented by immigration authorities. The incident also created a diplomatic row between Pakistan and US as both nations placed retaliatory restrictions on diplomats.