The divisional bench of IHC, comprising Chief Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman and Justice Muhammad Anwar Khan Kasi admitted the appeal and issued a notice to the state.
Qadri had filed an appeal before the court on October 6, challenging the death sentence awarded by the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Rawalpindi on October 1.
Former chief justice of Lahore High Court (LHC) Khawaja Muhammad Sharif led the panel representing Qadri at the hearing, flanked by Justice (retd) Mian Nazir Akhtar, Malik Muhammad Rafiq advocate, Raja Shujaur Rehman and Tariq Dhamial.
Sharif’s request to grant permission to ulema to access the court proceedings was shot down by the IHC chief justice on security grounds.
Sharif said this is a fresh appeal and a white paper would be prepared, containing all evidence from both sides, which was already put up in the trial court earlier.
Arguments
Qadri’s attorneys argued that the ATC was not the competent authority to try him.
They pleaded that his case did not fall under section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code since “he killed a blasphemer while following the teaching of Islam.”
Qadri’s attorneys maintained that under section six of the anti-terrorism act, he did not commit any terrorism while killing Taseer since “at that time, no one was terrified.”
They added that the trial court ignored the Islamic jurisprudence laws.
ATC Rawalpindi Judge Syed Pervez Ali Shah awarded death sentence twice to Qadri on October 1, after almost ten months of proceedings in Adiala Jail.
Outside the court, Sunni Ittehad Council members staged a protest, carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans in Qadri’s favour. They also chanted slogans against the ATC judge for awarding death sentence to Qadri.
The city administration, meanwhile, cordoned off all roads leading to the IHC.
Sharif, while talking to the media later, said that Qadri had sent him a letter, while in prison, requesting him to be his representative in the appeal against the death sentence.
“[Qadri] had asked his supporters to approve me as his legal representative,” Sharif said, adding that he made the decision to represent Qadri upon the insistence of a close friend.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 12th, 2011.
COMMENTS (96)
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@Tayyaba Haq: people with blood thirst like you,will prove anything in your sinful favor
@Jadugar: The problem is that my ANSWER is not being published by Express tribune .So many people have asked me a no of questions calling me by bad words.Express Tribune have the conscience of published my answer in which i proved my view point in the light of Quran and Sunnah
@pakyoungers: can you be a little more specific about,when and how did taseer abuse the prophet.
@Arsalan. Prophet Muhammad PBUH have the right to forgive. But you not have right on the behalf of Prophet. Why you think like this? Doubt in your faith? Every thing is clear. There is also no right to anyone to hurt all over Muslims by abousing there Prophet.. People have double standard.
It is strange that Khawaja Sharif who is presumed to be law knowing being judge is appearing for a murderer who confessed his crime.Appeal is legal right and let law take its course and justice be done to perpetrator of daylight murderer.Best of luck for Qadri
@ Tayyaba People like you have distorted Islam and and its interpretions, I agree with Raja Islam. Who are you to curse and talk on behalf of God.
@Raja Islam: Let Allah deal with you in HIS OWN MANNER for using such words for a Islamic Belief!
I answered all the questions directed towards me and proved my view point through Quran and Sunnah .These website people did not publish it as they themselves consider their own opinion AstagFARULLAH as the final word and anything that clashes with that does not appear on the website.What to do when the country is full of shameless people!
@saqib: WTF is wrong with you man? get out of our cave and experience the real word. Because of people like you, Pakistan will never progress.
You know I've seen some scary posts on this page. Especially by people who are celebrating Qadris as a solider of the faith... So does God talk to Qadri? What gave him the right to speak for him? If he really was a Muslim he would have left the judgement of somebodies alleged "Sins" up to God alone since only he has the right to judge whether somebody is guilty or innocent. Qadri and all these fanatics are basically saying that they are acting in Gods place to punish people. Doesn't that seem wrong to anyone?....
For me a good Muslim is one who stands up and help people who are in need (no matter what religion they may be from), forgives people who hurt him or her(turned the other cheek), looks to improve himself and not others around him, live his live the best way he can and lets others live their lives the way they want to, doesn't turn to violence and most importantly lets God defend himself (he doesn't need or want your help, he knows that at sometime or the other you will come before him)..
@Tayyaba & Abu Hamza: Gosh, I cant believe u ppl are for real! Brush up ur Islam: not the relegion of Saudia Arabia or the Pakistani mullahs, but the Islam of our beloved Prophet, Allah's blessings on him, and his devoted followers, the khulfa e rashideen... or maybe u ppl should go to Afganistan? u'll feel at home when the Taliban come into power!
And for ur kind information Mr. Abu Hamza, no person, woman or otherwise, can be exploited without their consent, so all those "half naked women on billboards"? They r getting paid for it.
@Pakistani:
nice to way to put it;hope there are more people out there thinking like you;blood-thirsty mullahs are drawing pakistan into a dark abyss from where it will be hard to climb back
Is opposing Shariah blasphemous ? What do the wise and learnt Ulema think ? Their guidance is needed by the state at this sensitive juncture.
@Babloo: I think there is a spelling error. You have inadvertently written: Shariah + Strategic Assets + Strategic Depth = Super POWER Pakistan where as it should be: Super PAUPER Pakistan
Die qadri dieeee... We love and miss you Salmaan Taseer!!! You will get justice in this life and the next life
What a sad day. This "killer" is going to be defended by another third class man. Both should be asked if they belong to the same faith where the Prophet (PBUH) used to forgive his tormentors and would NEVER encourage discrimination of minorities (jews etc) living in Mecca at the time.
They will be held accountable on the Day of Judgement. When God created life, why did Qadri have to end it? Did God not create an example of the Prophet (PBUH) for them to emulate. The Prophet's (PBUH) treatment of minorities and reaction to people who used to speak ill of him is what Qadri should have emulated.
Islam has sadly been reduced to managing womens clothes/ education. All thatt he molvis know about is to kill women, not to educate women and kill infidels or ask them for jaziya. Ofcourse, Halala is another concept very dear to the molvis.
@kamran: Do not mix the two. The first question here is about Qadris conviction. He is clearly a self confessed murderer so he must be punished.
The second question that you are raising is about blasphemy laws. Salman Taseer did not commit any blasphemy (go read the meaning of blasphemy from a dictionary). In addition the laws are repressive ones and need to be repealed, therefore no killing should be justified on account of blasphemy laws.
Convicts do have the right to appeal. However, a court may or may not accept the appeal. In cases like this that are cut and dried (convict confesses to murder and the murder is witnessed by several people) the appeal would typically be for mercy in sentencing. In this case probably for changing the death sentence to life imprisonment.
Pakistani child expelled for ‘blasphemous’ spelling error
with such hatred how you your mind progress
dont progress be slaves
your mullah has given you tehreek e taliban which blast mosques
may be qadri is right but he has no right to take law in his hands
such intolerance hatred in mind
you cant progress.
This is unfortunate for Pakistan that the killer (who confessed the murdering of governor at every forum — from the district magistrate to the trial court.) of Governor of Punjab is portrayed as Islamic Hero and Ghazi by Mullahs. They are giving bad name to Islam (which itself means peace)------
@Tayyaba Haq: wonderful, Have you ever read Quran which is the word of god or our mullahs are above god now that whatever they will say is correct whether it is against the teachings of Quran.How many people were killed in the time of holy prophet PBUH who talked against him. Did he order killing of Abdullah bin Ubi or did he pray at his death May god help you understand Quran which says" Zalikal kitabu laraiba fee he hudal lil mutaqeen".
my this message is dedicated to salman taseer
AMEER-UL-MOMINEEN...ALI IBN ABU TALIB (sws)
Tum Acha Karo Or Zamana Tum ko Bura... Samjhay...Yeh TUmharay Haq Ma behtar Ha...Bajaaye Iss Ka...Tum Bura Karo Or Zamana Tum Ko Acha Samjhay.....
Salman's Taseer Recited This verse of Faiz Poetry...
Rakht-e-Safar baandh lo...Dil Figaaro Chalo
Phir Hum He Qatl Ho Aayen......Yaaro Chalo
I Will Miss You Salman Taseer......Long Live Salman Taseer...We will keep supporting your ideology and not let the world forgetting your sacrifice.....
That's the best of any decision by the court, of late.
@Bilal: Salman Taseer was not innocent rather he was a blasphemour as through his remarks and acts of defending a woman convicted of blasphemy and therefore Taseer deserved what he got.
Long live Mumtaz Qadri Death to Salman Taseer and his supporters
@MAD: Agreed, but this guy wanted to die for his beliefs
Folks, on a related note, see the negative publicity and the reaction of the public that is being genertaed in the world against the growing religious intolerance in Pakistan. What else can we expect when we continue to hail murderers as heroes!!
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1067390--pakistani-child-expelled-for-blasphemous-spelling-error?bn=1
I am confused whether Qadri's act is justifiable or not, but one thing is very clear, no member of Secular party (PPP + ANP) will publically criticize any Islam related law, so its great, for little bad Qadri have done too much good, Bravo Qadri and for all those demanding his Public hanging, he is gonna release sooooon, very soooon
if Kasab can live happily in India, why not this guy?
I believe Qadri murdered the Governer because he wanted to go to the heaven and get the reward of 72 Hoors before heavens run out of stock. Such change of heart will disappoint the 72 anxious Hoors and Angels waiting for him.
He has the right to appeal but to me he may go scot free as this is how our courts work
@Arsalan, absolutely, forgiveness is better, but why not for all. Why is there difference between Qadri and Davis ?
@trueman: qadri must be executed..no doubt about this but should not the so called intelectuals or liberals be taken for task for hurting religious sentiments?
Shariah + Strategic Assets + Strategic Depth = SuperPower Pakistan
@f, "pardoned by his victims" ? Is this another name of police forcefully getting signatures from the victim family members ?
@Gen Pasha (retd): what is so ironic mr.general. Its a usual legal process followed across the globe.You keep praising india...so u must be aware of the status of rajiv gandhi killers
Qadri-- another view:
http://pioussluts.wordpress.com/2011/10/11/we-are-children-of-hate-by-orr-ali/
The Blasphemy law is absolutely correct, and Islamic, the Federal Shariat Court has clearly stated so in more than 60 paras. Only its implementation needs to be improved.
Fact is this, that the secular bigots in this country need to be sentenced to hanging, along with the religious extremists who murder innocent people.
Salman Taseer was NO hero, he also tried to take the law in his own hands.
@Saqib Mumtaz Qadri is our hero We should not stand in between him and the door to heaven.. Quicker he goes better for him ( unless he does not want to )If he really wants shahadat then why apply for appeal?
Mr Abu Hamza.. Could i have the names of the books from which you have learnt that "Its not against Islam to kill those who blespheme the Prophet peace be upon him".. The case you mentioned of "Ka’ab bin ashraf".. If you bother to study deeply, he was killed not because he was against Muslims and Prophet but because of the fact that he had planned assassination of Prophet and he was forcing the Jews to break the peace treaty with Muslims.. Please clean your facts.. Plus, i can cite at least ten events right now when Prophet Muhammad "forgave" his bitterest enemies despite the fact that the did not even curse even, denied his Prophethood, abused my prophet and even caused physical harm to him.. He even forgave them when he was in the position to kill them.. For the love of God, do spread hatred and violence, we already have enough of it..
@Abdullah because Raymond Davis was pardoned by his victims families in exchange for blood money......Qisas/Diyat. Qadri has not been and will not be, so he, inshallah will be executed for taking the life of another!
For all of you who don't understand the legal procedure, please note that it is a normal criminal procedural law that execution of death sentence is stayed pending an appeal in high court. That said, I am disappointed by J. Khawaja Sharif, the ex- Chief Justice of Lahore High Court, for appearing on behalf of a confessed murderer of our ex Governer. Any respect I had for him is down the drain.
The Movie Silent Hill I see no difference.
Its not against Islam to kill those who blespheme the Prophet peace be upon him. It happened in the time of our beloved prophet, see the cases of Ka'ab bin ashraf etc.
It should be criminal to exploit-ate women by having them pose half naked on billboards, it should be considered criminal to do away with the laws of Allah and inpose man made laws...That is ruining Pakistan not the killing of this guy...
@jagjit sidhoo:
You are absolutely right. Institutions in both countries have failed to give justice to the grieved people. This is why people still remember British rule where at least justice was at the forefront in any matter.
wot he did was wrong...and express breach of law.. wot salaman taseer did is matter b/w him and God Allah subahana wa'talla will give him punishment and no citizen shoul b alow to breach law
DATS IT
The cheif ustice has only said that the order will not be carried out as it is due for execution. Inshallah this Qadri will be executed and die at the gallows. this execustion must take place for people to realise that Islam is not their personal feifdom and a persons life is more important than anything else. if this means we cull a million mullahs ( yes kulling means killing rodents) then so be it, its very important,
@Safi: Dear ,Safi that's what I wrote on October 01,2011,in a comment on an article"Taseer murder case: Qadri sentenced to death". You know I got 8, here up till now you are on 45. This is the difference ,people don't easily understand blasphemy.
Why isn't he treated like Raymond Davis and released ?
It is a legal due process. Everyone gets the right of appeal. Even the Indian Terrorist Bomber "Sarbhjit Singh" got the right to appeals despite killing several innocents. So let not start crying and let the due process take place.
It is pertinent to note that LHC has no jurisdiction over crimes in ICT after establishment of IHC.
Requirements of justice should be fullfilled.
Allah o Akbar. This is awesome
This is an open-and-shut case, there is no debate here. The law must be followed and justice done for all to see. The sceptics still feel and rightly so from past history that the higher courts may pander to the religious extremists through legeally created technicalities. Let us hope the sceptics are proved wrong and our judiciary do the right thing and revive their shaky credibility.
We as Pakistanis should be ashamed of ourselves for not having the guts to hang a cold blooded murderer. Are we lambs in the face of extremism and fanaticism? No one man has the right to take the law in his own hands, Qadri is a murderer, hang him!
@f: please come forwarded and do what you have suggested.
“I have learned silence from the talkative, tolerance from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind. I should not be ungrateful to these teachers.” ― Khalil Gibran
Viewed under the light of this quote, we should be thankful to Qadri for opening our eyes. His heinous crime has made us aware of a very bitter fact, that the same death instinct is present in each of us. He felt justified to kill a human, and we all feel justified to kill him. The Devil is laughing at us!
The time to judge If the ADLIA is FREE AND FAIRIt is understandable that capital punishment is an ultimate course of action and recourse to a proper legal process is a must so that no innocent one gets hanged. But should this judicial process provide any reprieve to killers like Qadri, who have committed the crime in the presence of all and sundry and have also confessed to the murder? What is this appeal about? "Sorry, I was annoyed at Mr Taseer, I was overwhelmed by religious emotion. If I am forgiven this time, I swear I will not kill Mr Taseer again". Without any prejudice to the concept of punishment for blasphemy or the blasphemy laws, Mr Qadri is a nobody to decide who lives and who dies because of his limited understanding of Islam. Moreover, as I understand, the other guard members were also involved in the complicity to murder as Qadri had told them that he would kill Taseer and surrender and that they should not kill him in response (what a devoted soul!). They should also be tried and punished accordingly.
We should clear first what taseer said is fall in blasphemy if blassphemy then why did not take our government action against taseer and whats the role of individual when government not taken action against blasphemy.
My suggestion is to form a commitee comprises of ulema,judges, which give decision about taseer murder.
The headline is misleading. The IHC has admitted his appeal for hearing only and has not given a verdict on the appeal as yet. The death sentence "will not be executed" means that the sentence will not be carried out until decision on the appeal is given (which is the normal legal procedure). Judging from the comments, it seems that the readers are assuming that the sentence has been reversed...this is mischievous reporting by Express Tribune!
mumtaz qadri is our hero, he done a noble job.salman taseer surely committed toheen e risalat.
Cyber Alert!
Your opinion on this site does not matter because a vast majority of Pakistanis support Qadri. If you have any doubt then you can do an online poll or you can try gathering Taseer supporters against Qadri supporters the next time he appears in court.
I am not a big fan of Qadri but Taseer was a self-aggrandizing businessman always trying to seek attention with his heterodox and often offensive remarks. Perhaps he forgot the difference between ridiculing a fellow politician and talking disrespectfully about the Prophet(PBUH). Until the very end he thought he would get away with his tomfoolery.
If democracy is really the will of people then Qadri supporters are going to win this time.
May Allah have mercy upon Taseer's soul if he was a Muslim in the eyes of Allah.
Why isn't Qadri ready to die now?
It's a legal procedure so no reason to panic. They will certainly accept his plea. Let's hope it is rejected.
He should be cut in pieces but then there will be no difference between that illiterate mulla and civilized people but at least he should be executed, no matter how and when but he should be. RIP Salman Taseer
I would request Chief Justice to take suo moto action against Qadri. He has not only ridiculed the image of Islam but also manipulated the teachings of Prophet in order to justify his wrong doing and evil tendencies. This blasphemer should be punished under relevant laws of country for bringing disrepute to religion and our religious figures.
100 % Agreed ''MAA''
I am expecting that the court will categorically give Qadri death sentence after legal proceedings.
Agree with @MAD. The article's slightly misleading. Qadri has the right to appeal and he can't be executed until the IHC makes a decision on the appeal. Nothing to fret over.
Today Pakistan has condemned itself to ruin with this decision. We have shown all extremists that they will not be punished for murder. Today Pakistan should hang its head in shame. You reap what you sow and we will be responsible for what now happens to Pakistan
They should gave him sentence of death rather reviewing on it and 2nd i can see our court so much time to review his case when ATC had said dead sentence to him. Then why IHC accept his appeal to not " executed dead sentence ??" Realy due to lack of justice, injustice always win in our country, we all know that he had confessed murder and we all that seen those picture, then why these courts accepting his plea due to all these religious party taking out rally on road and mumtaz aka killer is their hero bcz he killed salman taseer on the islam ???
Pathetic
World Day Against the Death Penalty 2010 !....................Abolish the death penalty in Pakistan!
OMG!!!! This is the end of Pakistan as we knew it!!!
Can some one just shoot him and apply the "eye for an eye" defense!!!
High Court giving license to kill in hand of fanatics by admitting appeal of self confessed murderer.
When the Prophet himself never allowed the killing of the people of Taif for ridiculing him, who is Mr. Qadri to take matter in his own hands? ..and in Islam murdering one human being is killing the whole of humanity, then how are Mr. Qadri's actions justified?
In India the Supreme Court has granted stay to Kasab and in Pakistan Qadri's death sentence "“will not be executed”. We are weak states where the rule of law is not enforced that is why we are in this mess.
Chief Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rahman said that the death sentence handed to Mumtaz Qadri “will not be executed”.** The self-confessed murderer of Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, should not be given any reprieve, he should be hanged PUBLICLY
Before the wolves step in your headline should clarify that Qadri's appeal has been accepted for hearing by the court and his sentence suspended till the final decision. It is a legal process that everyone is entitled too even obvious murderers.