KARACHI, March 4: The murderer of Barrister Shakir Latif was hanged early Thursday morning at the Central Prison minutes after the victim's family refused to pardon him.

Shaikh Amjad, who came from an affluent family, was condemned to death by an anti-terrorism court for kidnapping and killing the 23-year-old son of his nextdoor neighbour, Fazalur Rahman, on July 29, 2001.

The killer had repeatedly suffered losses in his business ventures since he married for the third time after divorcing his second wife. The divorced wife had also initiated legal proceedings for evicting him from the Gizri bungalow he was living in.

The young lawyer, a graduate from Lincoln's Inn, had returned from London a year before Amjad kidnapped him for ransom. The kidnapper made the victim drink orange juice laced with potassium cyanide at gunpoint.

He dumped the body in the victim's car, which he abandoned in the Darakhshan police limits. He rang up Shakir's family from a public booth and demanded Rs20 million in ransom for "his release".

While negotiating with the family for the money, he was arrested with the help of the Citizen-Police Liaison Committee. He immediately led to the recovery of the body.

The jail authorities allowed the victim's father and a paternal uncle to have a 10-minute meeting with the killer before he was sent to the gallows at 5:30am in the presence of a judicial magistrate and the prison's doctor.

According to Fazalur Rahman, the murderer of his only son was terrified to meet his fate though he did his best to appear composed. "Please forgive me for what I did," Amjad beseeched as Mr Rahman asked him how many people he had killed for money in his life.

"You don't deserve pardon," the ill-fated father told the killer when he confessed to his crime. "If you are let loose, you will keep on killing people". Reacting to the donation of eyes by the murderer, Mr Rahman said the move was aimed at gaining public sympathies. "He is a cruel beast who enjoyed killing innocent people for his lust for money", he said.

The authorities also allowed a man, whose father was also killed by Shaikh Amjad, to meet him before he was hanged. Abdul Qudoos, a currency dealer, was killed after being robbed of US$120,000. Amjad's servant Abdul Malik, who helped him dispose the body of Qudoos, is in jail.

The jail authorities said the convict was taken to the gallows around 5:25am. With hands tied on the back and face muffled, Shaikh Amjad trembled as the noose was put around his neck, they said.

Only one brother of the hanged man arrived at the prison. The body was first taken to an eye hospital as he had donated his eyes. Then it was shifted to the Edhi morgue, where five daughters and other relatives of Amjad's had gathered.

Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the ATC-3 condemned him to death on October 3, 2001. The convict moved on October 15, 2001 an appeal in the Sindh High Court, which dismissed his appeal on April 16, 2002.

On May 23, 2002, Shaikh Amjad moved an appeal in the Supreme Court. However, the apex court also dismissed his appeal and upheld the trial court judgment on Feb 20, 2003.

Finally, the murderer filed a mercy petition to the president, who rejected it on Feb 16. Amjad was born on Nov 8, 1946 in Gujarat. After his matriculation in third division in 1962, he was admitted to St Patrick's College and did his graduation in 1968.

Later he worked in a hosiery factory of his father for four years. In 1974 he involved himself in the leather business and set up his own factory in the Korangi Industrial Area.

He also set up a sweater-weaving factory in 1982. He sold out this unit in 1982 after suffering losses. In 1984 he sold his leather factory to Air Marshal Noor Khan and went to the United States with his second wife, Ghazala.

He was first married to Nasreen, one of his paternal cousins, in 1970. The wife with their three daughters, Naila, Amna and Sana, is living in the United States.

Amjad's second wife, a divorcee with a daughter from her former husband, was a former air-hostess. He married her in 1978 and divorced her in 1996. A daughter, Aasia, and son Usman were born to her during their wedlock.

After winding up his business, he with his second wife left for California, where he set up a general store. However, the couple left the United States in 1986 for Bangkok, where Amjad established a factory of imitation jewellery.

In 1988, the couple returned to Karachi as they could not get Thai citizenship. They remained in Karachi for six months and then again left for the States, where he stayed for two years.

He came to Pakistan again in 1991 for six months and went back. Finally, he set up a dry-cleaning unit in the States and run it for four years. His third marriage took place with Nabeela, a divorcee with a minor daughter, on Jan 1, 2001.

The authorities said Shaikh Amjad was the 56th prisoner who was hanged inside the Central prison. The last man hanged was Shahjahan, a Bengali-speaking robber who had killed Prof Zahid Ali Magsi during a robbery.