Capital punishment: Two convicted terrorists executed in Multan

LeJ militants were given death penalty by court in 2002

MULTAN/ LAHORE:

Two convicted terrorists of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) sectarian group were executed at the New Central Jail early Wednesday morning amid tight security. They had been condemned to death by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in 2002.

The appeals of Ahmed Ali alias Sheesh Naag and Ghulam Shabbir alias Doctor had been rejected by a division bench of the Lahore High Court and the Supreme Court and their mercy pleas were turned down by the president of Pakistan last week.

Ahmed Ali, who belonged to Jhang district, was convicted for killing three members of the Shia community. He was also charged in 20 other cases between 1992 and 1998. Ghulam Shabbir, hailing from Khanewal district, was convicted of murdering three police officials. He was also the prime accused in over two dozen cases of sectarian violence from 1994 to 1998.

Death in waiting

Mian Muhammad Ajmal, known as Akram Lahori, one of the founders of the LeJ, will be executed in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail on Thursday (today) at 5am. On April 26, 2003 an ATC had sentenced Lahori and his two accomplices to death on three counts in a sectarian killings case.

The court had also handed down the capital punishment on two counts to Muhammed Azam, alias Sharif, and Attaullah, alias Qasim, in a double murder case. They were also given the death penalty in another case.

Lahori was also involved in the killing of Imtiaz Haider, brother of former interior minister Moinuddin Haider, and 24 people in Mominpura. He was involved in more than 30 sectarian killings, including attacks on Iranian cadets in Rawalpindi and Iranian ambassador Sadiq Gunji. Before his arrest, Punjab and Sindh governments had offered a Rs5 million bounty for Akram Lahori.

Death before execution

A convicted murderer on death-row died on Wednesday due to cardiac arrest just after the news broke of the execution of two LeJ terrorists at the Multan prison, jail officials told The Express Tribune.

Mehtab Dilawar, 35, a resident of Vehari, was condemned to death by an ATC for the murder of two men. However, his black warrant was not issued yet. Superintendent jail Attaullah said Dilawar’s had a fatal cardiac arrest after he heard the news of execution of the two LeJ terrorists.

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