PESHAWAR, July 27: The Federal Shariat Court on Friday commuted to life imprisonment the death sentence awarded by a trial court to two juvenile offenders. A full bench, comprising Chief Justice Hazikul Khairi, Justice Dr Fida Mohammad Khan and Justice Salahuddin Mirza, partially accepted an appeal filed by the two offenders and pronounced that the death sentence had been commuted to life imprisonment.The court had reserved its judgment on March 29 in Peshawar after all parties completed their arguments and pronounced it in Islamabad.

The appeal was filed by the convicts -- Sohail Fida and Mohammad Rafique -- who said that they had been on death row for the past five years. Senior advocate Khawaja Mohammad Khan Gara appeared for the appellants and contended that they were below 18 at the time of offence in 2000 and, therefore, they should be treated as juvenile offenders. He cited various judgments of the superior courts and argued that awarding death sentence to juvenile offenders was very harsh punishment.

Advocate Gara said that both the boys continued their studies in the prison. One of the appellants, Sohail Fida, has recently done his masters in International Relations and stood eighth in the Hazara University. Mohammad Rafique passed intermediate examination while he was in the prison.

They were arrested on charges of killing a boy, Mohammad Zubair, in Swat district on May 25, 2000. They confessed their crime before a local court in Swat.

They were charged under the Offence Against Property (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance, 1979 and were tried by an izafi zila qazi (additional district and sessions judge).

The trial court had convicted the boys on July 23, 2002 and awarded them capital punishment. The convicts had filed an appeal before the Peshawar High Court which transferred the case to the Shariat Court in April 2003. The PHC observed that since the charges against them had been framed under the Hudood law, therefore, only the Shariat Court could hear the appeal.

Under the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, 2000, death sentence could not be awarded to a juvenile offender.Mr Gara contended that the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance had been promulgated in May 2000, but it was extended to the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (Pata), where Swat district is situated, in Oct 2004.

He argued that despite the non-applicability of law to Swat district at the time of occurrence, the sentence of death could not be awarded to a juvenile offender. He contended that there was a consensus among the superior courts and various judgments suggested that death sentence could not be slapped on an offender who was below 18 at the time of occurrence.