MULTAN, Aug 29: The mother of a man sentenced to death for a 2003 attempt to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf begged the military leader on Monday to have mercy on her son.

Five men, including a soldier, were convicted of involvement in the Al-Qaeda-linked plot against Musharraf’s life and sentenced to death.

“I believe that my son is innocent and I ask President Musharraf to grant him clemency,” Zahoor Mai, mother of 22-year-old Zubair Ahmed, told reporters in her rural home town of Kehror Pucca, Lodhran district.

“It was shocking for us to know that he had been sentenced to death for a murder attempt on the president,” said the 45-year-old, adding that it was the first she had heard about her son for 18 months.

“It is impossible that he could do such a thing,” she said.

The death sentences relate to an attack on Christmas Day 2003, when two suicide bombers rammed explosives-laden vehicles into Musharraf’s motorcade in Rawalpindi near the capital, killing 15 people.

On Dec 14, 2003, Musharraf survived an earlier assassination attempt in the same area, when bombers blew up a bridge seconds after his convoy passed by.

A soldier linked to the bridge plot was hanged on Aug 20.

Ahmed’s brother Muhammad Tariq told reporters he was confident that his brother was innocent as he had never criticised Musharraf and had no links with extremist organisations.

He added that he would appeal to rights groups, including Amnesty International, to press for an open trial of Ahmed in a civil court.—AFP