SHIKARPUR: An anti-terrorism court adjourned on Saturday the hearing of the television journalist Wali Babar murder case.

Judge Mushtaque Ahmed Leghari of the ATC Kandhkot/Kashmore put off the hearing till Jan 25 as Advocate Salman Mujahid Baloch, the lawyer for the accused persons, did not appear in court.

The court issued a final warning to the defence counsel to appear in court on the next date.

The trial was being held inside the Shikarpur District Prison.

Initially the case was being tried by an anti-terrorism court in Karachi. However, at the request of the Sindh government to transfer the trial from the metropolis in view of threats to the lives of case investigators, witnesses and prosecution lawyers, SHC Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar had ordered the transfer of the case to the Kashmore-Kandhkot district ATC.

GeoNews journalist Wali Khan Babar was going home from office when he was shot dead in Liaquatabad on Jan 13, 2011.

In April 2011, the police arrested five men — Faisal Mehmood, Mohammed Ali Rizvi, Mohammad Shahrukh Khan, Syed Tahir Naveed Shah and Mohammed Shakeel — for the alleged involvement in the journalist’s murder case.