Salmaan Taseer murder: Mumtaz Qadri appeals against death penalty

Terms his capital punishment illegal and un-Islamic

LAHORE:

Mumtaz Qadri, the self-confessed killer of Salmaan Taseer, has challenged his death penalty in the Supreme Court, terming it “illegal and un-Islamic”.

On March 9, the Islamabad High Court had dismissed Qadri’s appeal against his two capital punishments awarded by an anti-terrorism court in October 2011. But the court had declared that Taseer’s murder was not a terrorist act and struck down the death sentence under the anti-terrorism act.

Qadri’s lawyers have now challenged the verdict of the high court in the Lahore Registry of the apex court.

Lead counsel Justice (retd) Mian Nazeer Akhtar told The Express Tribune the IHC’s “un-Islamic” judgment had various “illegalities”.

In an eight-page part of the ruling, the court has said that intentions are an important factor before someone is labelled a blasphemer. Akhtar said the part was illegal and also un-Islamic because Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) did not define element of intent.

“Once somebody commits blasphemy, he must face the consequences,” he said, adding that by terming the blasphemy law as “black law”, Taseer had committed blasphemy and deserved death.

In the petition, the plaintiff has submitted the case does not fall under Section 302 (murder with intention) of the PPC, which recommends death penalty, but under Section 302(b), which carries punishment of life imprisonment.

Justice (retd) Khawaja Muhamamd Sharif, a former chief justice of Lahore High Court, is also defending Qadri voluntarily.

Akhtar was unsure when the appeal would be taken up. But, he said, if the government gets the death warrants for Qadri, they would move the court for staying the execution.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 14^th, 2015.