The Interior Ministry on Wednesday removed supermodel Ayyan Ali's name from the Exit Control List (ECL) in compliance with a Supreme Court verdict issued last week.
An Interior Ministry notification announced Ali's name had been removed from the list a day after the supermodel requested the apex court to initiate contempt proceedings against the government for non-compliance against its April 13 order.
The SC in its judgement observed that there was no reason Ayyan's name should remain on the ECL as she had regularly attended hearings pertaining to a case of currency smuggling at the customs court in Rawalpindi and had cooperated with law enforcement authorities.
An earlier Sindh High Court (SHC) verdict directing authorities to remove the model's name from the ECL was challenged in the apex court by Islamabad customs collectors but the apex court had disposed off the petition, observing that the constitution does not allow for restriction of citizen's movements.
Ayyan's name was put on ECL on November 20, 2015 a day before she wasindicted in a currency smuggling case by a Rawalpindi customs court.
The model was arrested on Mar 14, 2015, on charges of money laundering after customs officials recovered $506,000 from her luggage at Islamabad's Benazir Bhutto International Airport before she could reportedly board a flight to Dubai.
She was granted bail in July last year after spending around four months in Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail ─ and after her judicial remand was extended at least 16 times.
