Mumtaz Qadri PHOTO: AFP
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC), on Monday, adjourned the hearing of former governor Punjab Salman Taseer’s killer Mumtaz Qadri’s appeal against the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) death penalty verdict.
A two-judge bench of the apex court, comprising of Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Umar Ata Bandial, adjourned the hearing till May 14.
The apex court asked the federal government to file an amended appeal against the IHC verdict to remove terrorism charges against Qadri within two weeks.
The court asked Qadri’s counsel to wait for the government to submit its appeal after which the it will take up Qadri’s appeal.
On March 9, the IHC had dismissed Qadri’s appeal against two death sentences awarded by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in October 2011.
Read: Mumtaz Qadri appeals against death sentence in Supreme Court
Justice (retd) Mian Nazeer Akhtar, counsel for the applicant, stated while talking to the media that the part about intent was illegal and also un-Islamic because Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) did not define the element of intent.
Read: Mumtaz Qadri does not deserve mercy, Taseer’s family appeals to court
The federal government has also challenged IHC’s verdict.
A senior official of the federal government told The Express Tribune that the interior ministry has moved an appeal against the IHC’s March 9 judgment, wherein charges of terrorism against Qadri have been omitted.
IHC set aside Qadri's conviction under section 7 of the anti-terrorism act (ATA) but upheld the death sentence under section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code, meaning that Qadri is guilty of murder but not terrorism.
The federal government has strong reservation over the high court’s findings to set aside terrorism charges against Qadri, said the official, adding that terrorism is itself defined in the ATA 1997.
Read: Taseer murder case: IHC upholds Mumtaz Qadri’s death sentence
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