A BRADFORD man, accused of a double murder in the city, is to fight the legality of his extradition from Pakistan.

Mohammed Zubair, 36, is charged with the murders of Imran Khan, 27, and 35-year-old Ahmedin Sayed Khyel, whose badly beaten bodies were found at the side of a country lane in New Lane, Tong, in May 2011.

Zubair, of Heath Terrace, Barkerend, was extradited back to the UK last month after being held in custody in Pakistan since November 2013.

But Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday that the defendant was mounting a legal challenge to the extradition process.

Prosecutor Tahir Khan QC told Judge Peter Benson that the defence was challenging the legitimacy of the circumstances in which the defendant came to be back in this jurisdiction and there would have to be a legal argument in due course.

Mr Khan said it made it inappropriate for Zubair to be arraigned with the charges at this stage.

Zubair, shaven-headed with a neatly trimmed beard, and dressed in a grey round-neck T-shirt and grey casual trousers, appeared via video link from Leeds Prison for the plea and trial preparation hearing.

He folded his arms and then held his hands in front of him as he listened attentively to the 17-minute-long proceedings.

The prosecutor said the case had first appeared at the crown court on May 20, having been sent there the previous day from the magistrates court.

Mr Khan said a provisional trial date had been fixed for November 14, but after consultations the trial would now be heard on January 12. The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Roger Thomas QC, will try the case, which is expected to last for two weeks.

Judge Benson set a date of December 9 to hear the abuse of process issue.

Mr Khan asked for the Crown to be allowed longer to serve its case on the defence for the trial, due to the complexities of it. Judge Benson agreed that could be done by July 29, with witness requirements and a defence statement lodged by September 9, along with the defence’s legal argument in relation to the extradition. The prosecution was given until October 7 to respond to that.

Judge Benson extended the custody time limits until January 16. He further remanded Zubair into custody.

The proceedings were watched from the public gallery by three officers from West Yorkshire Police’s Homicide and Major Enquiry Team.

At a previous magistrates’ court hearing, Zubair’s solicitor, Shahzad Ali, said his client had appealed against being sent back to the UK and was still waiting for a decision when he was put on a plane and returned to the UK.

He told the magistrates: “There was an appeal pending in Pakistan before the crown court.

“The decision had not been announced by that court as to his return, so I’m not prepared to concede his return to the country was legal.”

But the Home Office has insisted the request for Zubair was “subject to full judicial process before the Pakistan courts”.

Police had praised the Pakistani authorities for their assistance and endeavours in securing his arrest and ensuring his extradition.

One man has already been jailed for ten years for the killings of the two men. Minicab driver Sabir Hussain, then 40, of Wensleydale Road, Thornbury, was convicted of manslaughter in 2012, but cleared of murder.