KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court has sentenced to death three men and convicted to life imprisonment three others for killing Shia cleric Allama Hassan Turabi.
Sultan Mahmood alias Saifullah, Mohammad Amin alias Khalid Shaheen, Mohammad Akbar Khan, Mohammad Rehman, Ashfaq Qureshi and Raheemullah alias Ali Hasan were charged with masterminding the suicide attack on the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal leader and also planting a remote-controlled bomb to kill him in 2006.
In final arguments on September 25, counsel defending Sultan, Amin and Mohammad Rehman contended that the only evidence against his clients had been their confessions. Their counsel contended that since the confessional statement under Section 164 of CrPC could not be recorded under oath, it therefore had no legal worth.
He stated there were glaring contradictions in the evidence of witnesses and the prosecution’s story regarding the place of incident and thus he pleaded for acquittal of the accused men.
Defense counsel for accused Raheemullah argued there was no direct evidence against his client, as the sole confession of an accused cannot be used against a co-accused.
According to the prosecution, the Sindh chief of the Tehrik-i-Islami and provincial vice president of the MMA, Allama Hassan Turabi and his young nephew were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside his residence in Gulshan-e-Iqbal on July 14, 2006.
In an earlier incident, the same accused had planted a remote-controlled bomb in a pushcart on April 6, 2006 in an attempt to kill Turabi when he was travelling on Abul Hasan Ispahani Road in the jurisdiction of Mubina Town police station. However, the cleric escaped unhurt in that attempt.
ATC judge Anand Ram Hotwani convicted Amin, Sultan and Rehman under Section 302 of the PPC, awarding them the death sentence with a Rs100,000 fine each and ordered them to undergo an additional three years of rigorous imprisonment if they failed to pay.
The judge convicted Ashfaq, Raheemullah and Akbar to life imprisonment, a fine of Rs100,000 each and three years of rigorous imprisonment if they default on the payment.
Under Section 324 of the PPC, all six accused men were awarded life imprisonment, Rs50,000 in a fine each and one year of rigorous imprisonment on default. Under the anti-terrorism law, Amin, Sultan and Rehman were also awarded life imprisonment.
The judge had reserved the judgment a few days back and announced the verdict on Thursday. At least 37 witnesses, including doctors, police personnel, shop owners and other individuals were presented by the prosecution.
The suicide bomber was identified as Abdul Karim. Policemen Izhar Hussain, Fakhr Hussain, Muhammed Arshad and a woman were injured in the blast. A case was registered in the jurisdiction of Sachal police station under the PPC’s sections 302, 324, 427, 109, 120/34, 3/5, the Explosives Act and Anti Terrorism Act on a case registered by plaintiff Shafaat Hussain.
Patel Hospital’s Dr Adnan, Dr Farhat Abbas Shah, JPMC’s Dr Abdul Razzaq, and a neighbour and shop owner Imran Ali were also presented as prosecution witnesses. The witnesses identified Sultan Mehmood, Muhammed Amin and Muhammed Rehman before the judge during the court proceedings. The witnesses said that they found the accused and the suicide bomber Abdul Karim, camouflaged as a beggar and moving around the residence of Maulana Turabi before the attack. The accused belong to a Sunni militant outfit.
Reaction
In reaction, Allama Abbas Komaili of the Jafferia Alliance Pakistan said the verdict was a good development. “We have to read the full judgement before we can praise it,” Komaili told The Express Tribune.
He wanted to know whether the charges and evidence on the basis of they have been punished are strong enough to be defended in the higher courts. According to him, the law-enforcement agencies should also disclose the organisation to which these men belonged and the madrassas where they studied.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 1st, 2010.
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