2002 Imambargah attack: LHC acquits four death-row prisoners

Court also annuls fine and orders release of the men convicted by ATC in 2004

RAWALPINDI:

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday acquitted four men condemned to death by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) for their alleged involvement in an attack on an Imambargah over 12 years ago.

Fazal Hameed, Habibullah, Tahir Mehmood and Hafiz Naseer Ahmed had been convicted by the ATC on December 9, 2004 for the attack on Imambargah Shah-i-Najaf in the Khyaban-i-Sir Syed neighbourhood of Rawalpindi on February 26, 2002 which had killed 11 people.



However, a division bench of the LHC, Rawalpindi bench, comprising Justice Ibadur Rahman Lodhi and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed, on Monday revoked the death sentences of the four men, annulled the fine imposed on them and ordered their release.

Earlier the counsel for the petitioners, Advocate Malik Muhammad Rafique, argued before the court that his clients had been convicted on the basis of ‘inadmissible evidence’. He said the prosecution witnesses who did not even know the accused not only identified them during the identification parade but also testified against them.

The counsel added that the police had arrested 10 suspects in this case and the ATC acquitted five of them, namely Mubarak Hussain, Mujibur Rehman, Faraz Ahmed, Muhammad Sohail and Muhammad Abdullah. The petitioners, through their counsel, requested the court to annul their death sentences.



A deputy prosecutor general opposed the acquittal plea and said the accused had been convicted on the basis of valid evidence. The ATC in 2004 had declared 12 suspects proclaimed offenders including Qari Gul Muhammad, Aziz Ahmed alias Usman Chota, Karimullah, Qari Nazakat, Saifur Rehman, Abdul Wahab, Rashid Satti, Jamshaid, Muhammad Ajmal, Rashidullah, Sajjad and Akram Lahori. The investigation officer of the case, Inspector Raja Saqlain, was also gunned down while investigating the case.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 6^th, 2015.