KARACHI, Dec 17: An anti-terrorism court on Saturday sentenced a man to life imprisonment for killing a doctor on sectarian grounds.

The court found Mohammad Atif Nizami, said to be a member of a banned militant outfit, guilty of killing Dr Syed Ibn-e-Hassan in August 2003 within the remit of the Malir City police station.

Judge Ghulam Mustafa Memon of the ATC-III pronounced his verdict after hearing final arguments from both sides.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs200,000 and in case of non-payment the accused would have to undergo an additional three-year imprisonment.

The court ruled that when the fine was recovered it would be paid to the legal heirs of the deceased.

According to the verdict, the ocular evidence furnished by the prosecution witnesses against the accused in the present case and the medical evidence were in consonance with each other.

It said that documents including ballistic and chemical examiners’ reports and memos produced by the prosecution also corroborated the crime story advanced by the witnesses, which further strengthened the case of the prosecution, it added.

Referring to a contention of the defence counsel for not taking any independent witness at the time of the arrest, the court observed that the arrest of the accused was shown from an abandoned place at 5am and the unavailability of private witnesses at the subject place and time was understandable. Besides, private persons generally avoid becoming witnesses particularly in cases of recovery of arms, it added.

The prosecution witnesses were thoroughly confronted over their statements by the defence lawyer but could not make departure from them, the court ruled.

The prosecution proved the case beyond a shadow of a doubt against the accused for killing deceased on sectarian grounds in the manner described by the prosecution witnesses, it added.

The court further observed that charge of keeping unlicensed arms and ammunitions were also proved against the accused, thus he was also sentenced to five years in prison under Section 13-D of the Pakistan Arms Ordinance and a fine of Rs10,000 was imposed on him. In case of default, he would have to undergo an additional six-month imprisonment.

However, the court ruled that the punishments of imprisonment would run concurrently. It also extended the benefit of Section 382-B (period of detention to be considered while awarding sentence of imprisonment) of the criminal procedure code to the convict.

According to the prosecution, the accused along with his absconding accused Kamran alias Amir gunned down Dr Ibn-e-Hassan on Aug 16, 2003 in Malir. On May 5, 2006 the police arrested the accused in Memon Goth and also claimed to have recovered illegal arms and explosives from his possession.

A case (FIR 99/2003) was registered under Section 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 (e) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 on a complaint of the victim’s brother.

The police also registered another case (FIR 60/06) against the accused under Sections 13-D of the Arms Ordinance and 4/5 of the Explosive Substance Act.

The accused was brought to court in custody and after the pronouncement of the verdict the court remanded him back to prison along with his conviction warrant to serve out the remainder of his sentence.