Killing of cops: Convicts file appeal against death sentence

SHC orders notices to the state and trial court.

KARACHI: A division bench of the Sindh High Court on Monday issued notices to the state and the trial court in an appeal filed by two convicts on death row on the charge of killing two policemen in Karachi.

Muhammad Kamran and Muhammad Farhan assailed their conviction and death sentence awarded to them by Syed Hassan Shah Bukhari of Anti-Terrorism Court-I in 2010.

According to the prosecution, the convicts fired at constables Muhammad Ishaque and Muharram Ali near the Pakistan Machine Tool Factory in Landhi. Ishaque died on the spot while Muharram succumbed to his injuries later.

Both men were arrested in another crime by the CID police on October 18, 2006, and during the interrogation confessed to the double murder after which they were booked under sections 302 and 304 of the Pakistan Penal Code read with section 7(a) of the Anti-Terrorism Act and were tried by ATC-I which on February 25, 2010, held them guilty of killing police constables and sentenced them to death besides imposing a fine of Rs500,000 each.

The high court bench, comprising Justice Maqbool Baqar and Justice Nadeem Akhtar, heard the appeal by the accused and ordered notices to be issued to the state and the trial court for September 22.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28^th, 2012.