Death penalty challenged in Osama Satti case

IHC issues notices on appeal; adjourns hearing till March 13

ISLAMABAD:

Two police officials who were sentenced to death for the murder of Osama Satti challenged the trial court's decision in the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

A two-member bench of the IHC comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri heard the appeal on Monday.

Lawyer Zahidullah appeared before the court on behalf of petitioners Iftikhar Ahmed and Muhammad Mustafa.

In the petition, the death sentence of police officers Ahmed and Mustafa was requested to be annulled. It stated that the judgment of the trial court is against the law and should be declared null and void, requesting that the convicted police officials be acquitted.

Following the hearing of the case today, notices were issued on the appeal of the two police officers and the court adjourned the hearing till March 13.

Last week, a district and sessions court of the federal capital had sentenced accused Iftikhar Ahmed and Muhammad Mustafa to death and three others to life imprisonment in the Osama Satti murder case.

Additional Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry had pronounced the reserved judgment in connection with the case, according to which the court ordered the death penalty to Iftikhar and Muhammad, and imposed a fine of Rs0.1m each.

It is pertinent to note that the trial of the Osama Satti case lasted for two years and one month, in which Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Mustafa, Saeed Ahmed, Shakeel Ahmed and Mudassar Mukhtar were named accused.

The accused named in the case are anti-terrorism police officials while former secretary of High Court Bar Raja Faisal Younis is the counsel for the plaintiff in the murder case.

On January 2, 2021, at around 2am, Osama had gone to drop his friend in Sector H-11. When he was returning, the police officials had intercepted his vehicle in Sector G-10, Srinagar Highway and fired at him from all sides.

Three months later, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Islamabad had removed the terrorism provisions in the murder case and had referred the case to a district and sessions court.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, February 14^th, 2023.