Child pornographer to serve one life term

Court cites double jeopardy to rule in convict's favour

RAWALPINDI:

Additional District and Sessions Judge Ahsan Mehmood Malik Monday acquitted an accused in a case pertaining to child pornography and uploading content on the dark web.

The case against Sohail Ayaz, the convict in the child pornography and dark web scandal case, was registered on March 3, 2020, by the Federal Investigation Agency.

Earlier, the Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench had already commuted the accused's three death sentences in three porn videos and dark web cases to life imprisonment, while annulling one of the three life sentences for child abuse.

As part of the verdict, the accused was required to pay compensation of Rs0.5 million each to the heirs of the three affected children.

Consequently, the convict will serve a single life sentence in Adiala jail, as all the sentences will run concurrently. It is worth mentioning that the criminal had previously served a three-year prison term for child abuse in the United Kingdom, following which he was deported to Pakistan in 2017. Upon his return, he faced allegations of committing similar heinous acts in Rawalpindi and Peshawar.

In 2019, the Rawat police registered three cases against him for the rape of children, creating pornographic videos, and uploading them on the dark web.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 12^th, 2023.