To the gallows: ATC issues black warrants for two convicts

KARACHI:

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) issued on Monday black warrants for two death row prisoners after receiving intimation letters from jail authorities as the prisoners' mercy pleas were recently dismissed by the presidency.

The ATC-IV ordered to hang Muhammad Faisal and Muhammad Afzal till death on March 5 at 6:30am in Karachi's central jail. The court also directed authorities to fulfill all legal formalities before executing the prisoners under the supervision of the area's judicial magistrate.

Faisal and Afzal were convicted by an ATC in July 1999 for killing a man during a robbery bid in Korangi in 1998. They were charged with murder, robbery with murder, attempted murder, assault on public servant, and rioting, armed with deadly weapon of the Pakistan Penal Code, read with Section of the Anti-Terrorism Act and Section 13D of the Arms Ordinance.

The convicts had repeatedly approached the appellate courts against the order but their petitions were dismissed. In 2001, the Supreme Court turned down their pleas twice. They are currently confined in Sukkur Jail and will be brought back to Karachi soon.

Last week, President Mamnoon Hussain rejected the mercy pleas of six condemned prisoners from Sindh, namely Munawar Ali, Achar Narejo, Abdul Aziz Narejo and Bashir Ahmed Bhutto and the two mentioned above.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2015.