Sialkot Jail Shootout: Verdict reserved on appeal
The judges were taken hostage by prisoners during a tour of the Sialkot jail.
LAHORE:
A Lahore High Court division bench on Thursday reserved its verdict on appeals against the acquittal of 23 people, including police officers, in the Sialkot District Jail shootout case of July 25, 2003, in which four civil judges and five prisoners were killed. The bench headed by Justice Mazhar Iqbal Sidhu was hearing appeals filed by family members of the deceased judges. The judges were taken hostage by prisoners during a tour of the Sialkot jail. They and the prisoners were killed when police tried to rescue the hostages. Jail authorities and police were tried for criminal negligence. An anti-terrorism court convicted the jail superintendent and a warden, while acquitting 23, in December 2006. Relatives of the deceased judges then moved an appeal, on which the LHC reserved its verdict on Thursday.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 17th, 2013.
A Lahore High Court division bench on Thursday reserved its verdict on appeals against the acquittal of 23 people, including police officers, in the Sialkot District Jail shootout case of July 25, 2003, in which four civil judges and five prisoners were killed. The bench headed by Justice Mazhar Iqbal Sidhu was hearing appeals filed by family members of the deceased judges. The judges were taken hostage by prisoners during a tour of the Sialkot jail. They and the prisoners were killed when police tried to rescue the hostages. Jail authorities and police were tried for criminal negligence. An anti-terrorism court convicted the jail superintendent and a warden, while acquitting 23, in December 2006. Relatives of the deceased judges then moved an appeal, on which the LHC reserved its verdict on Thursday.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 17th, 2013.