MARDAN, July 17: An anti-terrorism court here on Tuesday sentenced to death two kidnappers and awarded life imprisonment to two of their accomplices in a case of kidnapping for ransom.

The court presided over by Ayaz Khan sentenced accused Zahir Shah and Jamshed Khan to death, whereas two other accused Mohammad Abbas, alias Bazey, and Anwar Ali were sentenced to life imprisonment.

The court observed that the prosecution had proved its case against the four accused and the evidence on record was enough for their conviction. The court acquitted two other accused people, Syed Umer and Ibrahim, due to lack of evidence against them.

Soon after the court had pronounced the verdict one of the convicts, Mohammad Abbas, started uttering obscene remarks against the court officials. He also attacked a television cameraman.

The six accused were charged with the kidnapping of a teenaged boy — Hasnain Ali, son of Farman Ali — on February 2 in Mardan. Police recovered the boy after 10 days.

Advocates Azizur Rehman Khan and Salim Khan appeared for the prosecution side while Sher Khan, Nigar Khan and Abdur Rasheed Pirzada represented the accused.

Meanwhile, ATC judge Mohammad Ayaz Khan had written a recent letter to various officials, including the Peshawar High Court Chief Justice, DIG Mardan Range and DPO Mardan, about security concerns following certain complaints made by journalists.

Expressing his concerns over the security lapses, he said he had time and again held meetings with the DPO and asked him to provide security to judges and journalists on the court premises.

However, the incident on Tuesday had shown that a lot still needed to be done in this regard.