Fair trial: SC grants three death convicts leave to appeal

SHC had rejected appeals of convicts and upheld their death sentences.

KARACHI: The Supreme Court (SC) granted leave to appeal to three death convicts, including Asma Nawab, in a triple murder case.

Nawab, 16, was convicted of killing her parents and brother on December 30, 1998. The other convicts, Javed Ahmed Siddiqui and Muhammad Farhan, were also awarded death sentences for helping her. According to the prosecution, the murder took place because Nawab's parents were opposed to her marriage with Farhan. The three had challenged their conviction in the Sindh High Court (SHC) in 1999 but their appeals remained pending till last year.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Anwar Zaheer Jamali, while heading the two-member bench of the SC Karachi Registry on Tuesday, observed that connected petitions arise out of the common impugned judgment, whereby petitioners were convicted and awarded death sentences by the anti-terrorism court.

"After going through the case record, we are convinced that re-appraisal of the whole evidence will be required to ensure fair dispensation of criminal justice," the apex court noted while granting leave to appeal against dismissal of their appeals by the SHC.

While maintaining capital punishment awarded by the anti-terrorism court, the SHC had rejected the appeals filed by Nawab, Siddiqui and Farhan.

Rare split verdict

In a rare move, two members of SHC's anti-terrorism appellate bench, Justices Ali Sain Dino Maitlo and Dr Rana Shamim, had given a split verdict. The former had acquitted the appellants due to a lack of evidence, but the latter upheld their conviction and sentences.

Jamali, who was the then SHC chief justice, had subsequently referred the case to Justice Abdul Rasool Memon on January 30, 2009, to give the final decision as a referee judge.

Nearly six years later, Justice Memon heard the appeals afresh and reserved the verdict on November 25, 2014 after hearing arguments from the prosecution and defence lawyers at length.

Announcing the verdict, the referee judge had maintained the death sentence awarded to the appellants and rejected their appeal on January 29, 2015.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 25^th,  2016.