Execution orders: Black warrants for two LeJ men

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) reissued on Saturday black warrants for two condemned prisoners, Attaullah Qasim and Mohammad Azam Sharif, belonging to the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LEJ), after receiving a letter from jail authorities seeking fresh order to carry out the executions. The ATC-V judge ordered that the convicts will be hanged on February 3 at 6:30am in Karachi Central Jail. Qasim and Sharif were convicted in 2004 for killing Dr Ali Raza Pirani, for his religious beliefs, in June 2001 in Soldier Bazaar area. Earlier, on December 19, the death warrants for Qasim and Azam were issued by the court but their hanging was stayed by the Sindh High Court.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 25^th, 2015.