A Pakistani court has declared nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan a free man, five years after he was put under house arrest for allegedly operating a proliferation network
The chief justice of the Islamabad High Court, Sardar Mohammad Aslam, made the decision after a closed session with lawyers for the Pakistan Government and Mr Khan.
Mr Khan, 72, has been effectively under house arrest in Islamabad since February 2004 when he confessed on television to sending nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
He later retracted his remarks.
Mr Khan is revered by many Pakistanis as the father of the country's atomic bomb.
Military ruler and then president Pervez Musharraf pardoned Khan in 2004, but he was kept at his residence, guarded by troops and intelligence agents.
In July, a court had eased restrictions on Khan, allowing him to visit relatives in Pakistan but banning him from giving interviews on proliferation.
The decision comes after the US, one of Pakistan's key allies, unveiled sanctions against Khan, 12 associates and three firms linked to his nuclear proliferation network.
The US sanctions forbid them from having business dealings with the US government or private firms in what the US State Department says is a renewed bid to make sure the network has been shut down entirely.
