RAWALPINDI: An additional district and sessions court on Tuesday sentenced Farrukh Khokhar, the main accused in the murder of PTI activist Majid Satti, to life imprisonment.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Afshan Ijaz Sufi announced the verdict in the high-profile case, also awarding life sentences to two other accused — Ameer Hamza and Haider Ali Nawaz alias Ali Jogi.

They were convicted under sections 302 (murder), 148 (rioting with deadly weapons), and 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Pakistan Penal Code. Another accused, identified as Waseem, was acquitted due to insufficient evidence .

The court also directed each convict to pay Rs1 million as compensation to the legal heirs of the deceased under Section 544-A of the Criminal Procedure Code.

In case of non-payment, the amount shall be recovered as arrears of land revenue. The benefit of Section 382-B Cr.PC, which allows set-off for the period of detention already undergone, was also extended to the convicts.

As the judge pronounced the verdict, police personnel present in the courtroom immediately took Khokhar into custody. He had been appearing in the court on bail, while the other two convicts had been brought from Adiala jail for the hearing. The court ordered Khokhar to be transferred to Adiala jail under tight security.

A heavy police contingent was deployed at the judicial complex, where a large crowd, including supporters of the convicts and relatives of the deceased, had gathered ahead of the verdict. Armed individuals and vehicles were not allowed to enter the premises, and people entering the judicial complex were searched.

According to the prosecution, Majid Satti, a PTI activist and transport union leader, was killed on August 23, 2022, within the jurisdiction of Sadiqabad police station. The case was registered under FIR No. 2349, with investigators alleging that the killing was linked to a dispute over preventing an alleged land occupation attempt .

Khokhar, a former Pakistan Peoples Party member who later joined Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, was nominated as the prime accused in the case along with his associates for allegedly planning and executing the killing over personal rivalries.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2026