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KARACHI, Nov 30: The Sindh High Court acquitted on Wednesday a Sipah-i-Sahaba activist and dismissed appeals by two others convicted of sectarian murders and sentenced to death by anti-terrorism courts of Karachi.
Ajmal alias Akram Lahori was tried for killing Dr Aley Safdar Zaidi in Karachi. He was prosecuted by an anti-terrorist court under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorist Act, Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 13-D of the Arms Ordinance and awarded the capital punishment besides lesser sentences.
His counsel, Maqboolur Rehman, argued that the two eyewitnesses in the murder case were examined by the prosecution agency about four months after the occurrence. AS for the recovery of illegal weapons, the prosecution witness named by the police was not examined by the trial anti-terrorism court.
An appellate bench comprising Justices Mohammad Afzal Soomro and Rehmat Hussain Jafri acquitted the appellant convict by a short order and for reasons to be recorded later.
BAKERY CASE: Another division bench consisting of Justices Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Ali Sain Dino Metlo dismissed appeals moved by death convicts in the Subhan Bakery murder case.
Kamran Farooqui and Jamilur Rehman, alleged to be activists of Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, were tried for hijacking a taxi in Gulbahar and using it for attack on the owner and workers of Subhan Bakery in front of Lighthouse on M.A. Jinnah Road soon afterward in September 1997.
They were tried by an anti-terrorism court of Karachi, which sentenced both to death. The appellate bench upheld the convictions and sentences by a short order and for reasons to be recorded later.
