Final verdict: US aid worker’s abductor gets death sentence

Hafiz Imran was convicted of kidnapping Warren Weinstein in 2011

LAHORE:

An anti-terrorism court on Wednesday sentenced Hafiz Imran to death for abducting a US aid worker four years ago in Lahore.

Hafiz Imran, an al Qaeda operative was convicted of kidnapping USAID worker Warren Weinstein in Lahore on August 13, 2011. Weinstein, 73, was serving as the country director of a US-based consultancy J.E. Austin Associates, which works for the US government’s development agency USAID on contractual basis.



Handing down the death penalty on three counts including kidnapping for ransom, terrorism and trespassing into the victim’s premises with an intention to kill, Judge Muhammad Qasim also ordered that Imran pay a Rs500,000 fine. Subsequently, the judge also directed authorities to confiscate all moveable and immoveable assets of the convict.

“The court awarded death sentence to Hafiz Imran on three counts,” public prosecutor Rai Asif said shortly after the court’s ruling.

In 2011, Weinstein, who suffered from multiple health issues including heart disease, was abducted by armed men moments before he stepped into his Model Town residence, a relatively posh neighborhood in Lahore.

A year later, the elderly aid worker appeared in an al Qaeda video in which he urged the US government to free al Qaeda prisoners including Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman. Weinstein has not been seen since the release of that video and his whereabouts are unknown.



According to details, police arrested two people in the Weinstein’s abduction case including Hafiz Imran and his accomplice Saifur Rehman. However, Rehman was acquitted due to lack of evidence against him.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th, 2015.