November 04, 2006	Saturday	Shawwal 11, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Nov 3: Twelve men on the death row for their involvement in attempts on the life of President Pervez Musharraf have filed a revision petition before the Supreme Court pleading for review of upholding of their sentence or sending their cases back to the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court.

On Sept 25, the Supreme Court had upheld the death sentences handed down by a military court after dismissing appeals of the convicts involved in the assassination plots against the president in Rawalpindi.

The convicts include an army soldier, several low-ranking air force personnel and some civilians.

They have pleaded that their execution should be stayed till the decision on the petition.

The review petition submitted by Advocates Hashmat Habib and Mohammad Ikram sought constitution of a larger bench to hear the cases since it involved a matter of life and death.

The petitioners said that, otherwise, their cases should be remanded back to the Rawalpindi bench of the LHC to re-consider legal points raised in the review petition.

They pleaded that court did not deliberate on legal grounds on which the leave to appeal was granted to the petitioners when they first came to the Supreme Court.

The military court of appeal had converted the sentence of Rana Naveed and Amir Sohail into death for involvement in the second assassination bid on the life of the president. The military court had awarded life sentence to Rana Naveed and 20-year jail term to Amir Sohail.

Appellant Naek Arshed Mehmood was sentenced to death by a court martial for his involvement in the assassination of Dec 25, 2003.

Zubair Ahmed, Rashid Qureshi, Ghulam Sarwar Bhatti and Ikhlas Ahmed, presently confined in district jail Attock, were arrested during December 2003 and January 2004 on the charges of their involvement in the first assassination attempt.

Mushtaq Ahmed, a civilian, PAF Chief Technician Khalid Mehmood, Corporal Technician Nawazish Ali and Junior Technicians Niaz Mohammad and Adnan Rasheed have moved appeals before the apex court against rejection of their appeals by the Rawalpindi bench.

On Nov 19, 2004, a military court had sentenced Mushtaq Ahmed to death under the Air Force Act (AFA) for being part of the Dec 14, 2003, plot to assassinate President Musharraf.