PESHAWAR, Feb 3: A full bench of the Federal Shariat Court on Thursday upheld the verdict of a trial court sentencing a man to death for killing a lawyer. The bench — comprising Shariat Court Chief Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Yousaf, Justice Dr Fida Mohammad and Justice S. A. Manan — dismissed an appeal filed by the convict, Taj Mohammad, observing that the prosecution had proved the case against him.

The bench also dismissed an appeal of a co-accused, Riaz Khan, and upheld the sentence of life imprisonment awarded to him by the trial court.

The two appellants were convicted by an additional district and sessions judge, Shehbar Khan, here on Nov 13, 2004. The third accused in the case, Zameer Khan, has been absconding and declared a proclaimed offender by the trial court. The accused were charged with kidnapping and killing a lawyer, Abid Nadeem, in April 2002.

Mr Nadeem had gone missing on April 27, 2002, and an FIR was registered by the Banamari police. Few days later, his body was recovered from a deserted place in Mathra area.