LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday acquitted a death row prisoner charged with murder of his wife after nine years of conviction.

A district and sessions court had awarded death penalty to Muhammad Imran in 2007 for killing his wife, Bushra, allegedly in the name of honour. Imran had challenged his conviction before the high court.

His counsel, Rana Abdul Hameed contended that Bushra was murdered by dacoits on offering resistance during a house robbery. He said police converted the dacoity into honour killing instead of lodging a first information report of dacoity-murder. The lawyer said the trial court had convicted the appellant on the basis of weak and contradictory evidence. He asked the court to set aside the death sentence and acquit the appellant.

A division bench comprising Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan and Justice Shehram Sarwar allowed the appeal and ordered release of Imran.

Published in Dawn December 8th, 2016