Safoora carnage: Saad Aziz, 4 others challenge death sentences awarded by military court

Development comes days after three other suspects were acquitted by military court of charges of facilitating carnage

KARACHI: Five terror suspects, including Saad Aziz, on Monday challenged their death sentences awarded by a military court over their involvement in Safoora Goth carnage.

The development comes days after three other suspects were acquitted by the military court of charges of facilitating the carnage which left 45 Ismailis dead in Karachi’s Safoora Goth area.

In their appeal to the Sindh High Court, the suspects submitted the military court acquitted three others accused in the case therefore their appeals should also be heard. A two-judge bench of the SHC issued notices to the federal and provincial authorities, directing them to file their comments by January 16.



On Thursday, the SHC was informed that the three acquitted suspects were set free by military authorities. The statement came in a letter produced by Judge Advocate-General (JAG) branch of the army in a matter relating to alleged unlawful detention of suspects. The court had been requested to order authorities to release the detainees, who were said to have been kept in inhumane living conditions and are suffering from ailments.

Former deputy-director of the Fishermen Cooperative Society, Sultan Qamar Siddiqui, and his younger brother, Muhammad Hussain Siddiqui, and another person, Naeem Sajid, were arrested on allegations of facilitating the Islamic State-inspired group of youth, who were responsible for killing 45 members of the Ismaili community in May, 2015.