Death sentence: IHC to hear Mumtaz Qadri’s plea tomorrow

The court will take up Lakhvi’s detention case today.

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) will hear the appeal of Malik Mumtaz Qadri, the self-confessed assassin of former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, on January 27, Tuesday.

According to the list issued by the court’s registrar on Saturday, a two -member bench comprising Justice Noorul Haq N Qureshi, and Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui will take up the murder appeal on Tuesday.

Qadri had filed an appeal before the court on October 6, 2011 challenging the death sentence awarded by the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Rawalpindi on October 1, 2011.

ATC Rawalpindi Judge Syed Pervez Ali Shah had awarded death sentence twice to Qadri on October 1, after almost ten months of proceedings in Adiala Jail. Owing to a backlash from religious parties, the judge was forced to flee the country after receiving death threats. Qadri, a constable in the Punjab Police and member of its elite force, tried to justify the governor’s murder by stating that he had killed him for supporting Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman whom Taseer believed had been wrongly convicted of committing blasphemy.

Qadri has been detained at Adiala Jail since he was awarded the death sentence. Former chief justice of the Lahore High Court Khawaja Muhammad Sharif had led the panel representing Qadri at his first appeal hearing over three years ago.

Lakhvi’s detention

On Monday, the court will also take up the matter of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the alleged mastermind of the Mumbai attacks, who had challenged his detention orders.

In December last year, the capital administration had issued detention orders of Lakhvi under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order after he was granted post-arrest bail by an ATC.  Lakhvi, while challenging the detention orders, argued that the detention was ‘illegal’ and said the government took the step owing to ‘Indian pressure’. His detention expired on January 18, however, the administration had extended it till February 18.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 26^th, 2015.