KARACHI, Feb 22: Upholding the conviction of three activists of the outlawed Lashkar-i-Jhangvi in a sectarian killing case, the Sindh High Court maintained on Wednesday the death sentences of two of them and converted the life imprisonment of the third appellant into death punishment.

Mohammad Talha Hussain and Khalil Ahmed were sentenced to death while Mohammad Shahid Hanif was jailed for life by an anti-terrorism court in Karachi on April 15, 2002. They were found guilty of murdering Syed Zafar Hussain, director, laboratories, ministry of defence, in Gulbahar area of Karachi on July 30, 2001.

They challenged their conviction and sentences in the high court and their counsel argued that there was no sufficient evidence to prove the guilt of the accused and that they should have been given the benefit of the doubt. They were acquitted in an illegal weapons case for the same reason.

An assistant advocate-general supported the prosecution case and defended the impugned judgment. He submitted that eyewitness Safdar Shah, driver of the victim, identified the appellants in their specific roles and his testimony was trustworthy. He prayed to the appellate bench to dismiss the appeals and enhance the punishment awarded to the third appellant to death penalty as he was guilty of the same offence proved by the same evidence.

An SHC division bench, comprising Justices Mohammad Afzal Soomro and Rehmat Hussain Jafri, after hearing the arguments and going through the evidence, dismissed the appeals and enhanced the punishment of the third appellant by a short order and for detailed reasons to be recorded later.

WOMAN’S PLEA: The High Court on Wednesday issued notice to Advocate General Sindh for Feb 27 on an application filed by a woman seeking pre-arrest bail in a kidnapping and killing case, adds PPI.