Sectarian violence: 9 sentenced to death

Others were acquitted on benefit of doubt


Our Correspondents April 30, 2015
PHOTO: BBC

FAISALABAD/ BHAKKAR:


An anti-terrorism court in Sargodha awarded death penalty to nine men it convicted of murder. The court sentenced four men to life imprisonment and awarded a 10-year prison sentence to one man.


As many as 179 suspects in the case were acquitted.

According to prosecution, 10 citizens were killed on August 23, 2014 in Kotla Jam in Bhakkar. Of those, eight were activists of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamat (ASWJ) and the others members of Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM).

Two FIRs were registered at Saddar police station in Bhakkar. The case was tried in a special anti-terrorism court in Sargodha.

After hearing witnesses and examining evidence, the court sentenced Rajab Ali, Haji Sajwal, Niaz Hussain, Arif hussain, Ghulam Qanbar, Imran Shah and Ijaz Hussain to death. The men were activists of MWM.

Rana Muhammad tufail and Sheikh Muhammad Iqbal were awarded death sentence in the second FIR. These were ASWJ activists.

Maulana Abdul Hameed Khalid, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haqqani, Maulana Manzoor Ahmed Akasha and Sheikh Zubair were awarded life imprisonment. These are members of ASWJ.

Maulana Abdul Hameed Khaliq is the provincial chief of the ASWJ.

From MWM, Jalees Hussain was awarded the 10-year sentence.

Man awarded death  sentence

Jaranwala Additional Sessions Judge Rana Muhammad Saleem on Wednesday awarded death sentence to a man convicted of murder and sentenced two others to life imprisonment.  Prosecution said Shehbaz, a resident of Chak 355-GB, and his eight including accomplices Saleem, Khalid and six others shot dead Shahid Nazir over a marriage dispute three years ago.

After examining evidence and witnesses, the judge awarded capital punishment to Shehbaz Gelo and life imprisonment to Saleem and Khalid.

The others were acquitted on benefit of doubt.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 30th, 2015. 

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