Justice served? PHC upholds sentences of two men convicted by ATC

Lawyers of two men failed to disprove their clients’ guilt on Wednesday.

PESHAWAR:

A special branch of the Peshawar High Court formed to hear appeals of terrorism cases has upheld the sentences of two men convicted by anti-terrorism courts (ATC), and set free a convicted terrorist.

Justice Abdul Latif Khan and Justice Syed Afsar Shah dismissed petitions filed by the convicted men, Shoaib and Muhammad Asif, challenging their respective sentences, after their lawyers failed to disprove their clients’ guilt on Wednesday.

Back to jail

Shoaib, the first petitioner whose request was turned down, had been arrested by Badhaber police on April 20, 2014 while he was planting an eight-kilogramme bomb near a check post in Safon area in the provincial capital.

ATC Judge Salim Khan sentenced Shoaib to 14 years in prison on June 14 after the trial was conducted through a video link from Central Prison Peshawar.

On Wednesday, Shoaib’s counsel told the court his client confessed only after the police investigation was completed. He added the police arrested Shoaib after the bomb had been planted and no explosives were recovered from him.

However, Assistant Advocate General (AAG) Sikandar Shah argued Shoaib recorded his statement in the trial court and confessed to the crime. “In the confessional statement, the convict said the explosive was given to him by a militant group of Khyber Agency to destroy a police check post and he was arrested red-handed,” said AAG Shah.

The bench then dismissed Shoaib’s appeal and upheld his prison sentence.

The second petition the PHC bench dismissed was filed by Muhammad Asif, a resident of Swabi, who was sentenced to five years imprisonment by an ATC for rape and sodomy.

Counsel for the state told the court that in 2013 Asif raped a sixth grade student and made a video to blackmail him later. Asif was tried under terrorism charges and imprisoned for five years, but he appealed against his sentence.

The state lawyer argued the police had ample evidence against Asif. The convict’s petition was dismissed and his sentence was upheld by the court.

Free to go

The bench also acquitted a convicted terrorist, Hazrat Bilal, who had been handed a 14-year sentence for possessing weapons and hand grenades.

Muhammad Saeed Khan, Bilal’s counsel, said Chamkani police arrested his client and his three brothers on November 25, 2013 for possessing four hand grenades, pistols and ammunitions. Khan added all four were later handed over to secret agencies for further investigation.

“The police have no record that can prove my client’s guilt. Some legal points were overlooked while awarding the sentence,” said Khan.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 29^th, 2015.