Rangers official’s murder: Former chief cleric of Lal Masjid, 16 others acquitted
The cleric was granted bail in 2008, and the other accused were granted bail even earlier, in 2007.
RAWALPINDI:
Maulana Abdul Aziz, the former chief cleric of Lal Masjid in Islamabad, and 16 others were acquitted on Monday for the charge of murdering a Rangers official during the siege of the mosque compound in July 2007, Express News reported.
The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) special judge acquitted Aziz, his wife Umm-e-Hassaan, their daughter Tayaba Aziz, Humera Rashid (the widow of Maulana Abdur Rashid Ghazi), and some students and teachers of Jamia Faridia in the murder of Rangers official Lance Naik Mubarak Hussain who was deputed outside the mosque.
There were total 21 accused in the case, out which, four people who were declared proclaimed offenders in the case were not acquitted, because they never appeared before the court.
The ATC issued arrest warrants for all four of them.
Charges leveled against Aziz’s younger brother Maulana Ghazi were dropped after he had died.
Eighteen government witnesses appeared before the court, including four DSPs and two magistrates.
The cleric was granted bail in 2008, and the other accused were granted bail even earlier, in 2007.
A case against the accused was registered on July 3, 2007.
On July 3, 2007, former president Pervez Musharraf had ordered a military operation against the mosque for challenging the writ of the state. The military besieged the mosque for 12 days before assaulting the compound, an attack in which hundreds of students were killed.
Aziz is accused of using the mosque loudspeaker to instigate madrassa students to attack the Rangers who were deployed outside the mosque in order to prevent Aziz and his associates at Lal Masjid from continuing their campaign of public intimidation that they had been carrying out since January of that year.
The charges against Aziz also include kidnapping and abduction of Chinese massage therapists as well as hijacking a children’s library in June 2007 as part of his institution’s protest against the demolition of seven mosques in the federal capital.
Maulana Abdul Aziz, the former chief cleric of Lal Masjid in Islamabad, and 16 others were acquitted on Monday for the charge of murdering a Rangers official during the siege of the mosque compound in July 2007, Express News reported.
The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) special judge acquitted Aziz, his wife Umm-e-Hassaan, their daughter Tayaba Aziz, Humera Rashid (the widow of Maulana Abdur Rashid Ghazi), and some students and teachers of Jamia Faridia in the murder of Rangers official Lance Naik Mubarak Hussain who was deputed outside the mosque.
There were total 21 accused in the case, out which, four people who were declared proclaimed offenders in the case were not acquitted, because they never appeared before the court.
The ATC issued arrest warrants for all four of them.
Charges leveled against Aziz’s younger brother Maulana Ghazi were dropped after he had died.
Eighteen government witnesses appeared before the court, including four DSPs and two magistrates.
The cleric was granted bail in 2008, and the other accused were granted bail even earlier, in 2007.
A case against the accused was registered on July 3, 2007.
On July 3, 2007, former president Pervez Musharraf had ordered a military operation against the mosque for challenging the writ of the state. The military besieged the mosque for 12 days before assaulting the compound, an attack in which hundreds of students were killed.
Aziz is accused of using the mosque loudspeaker to instigate madrassa students to attack the Rangers who were deployed outside the mosque in order to prevent Aziz and his associates at Lal Masjid from continuing their campaign of public intimidation that they had been carrying out since January of that year.
The charges against Aziz also include kidnapping and abduction of Chinese massage therapists as well as hijacking a children’s library in June 2007 as part of his institution’s protest against the demolition of seven mosques in the federal capital.