MULTAN, Sept 1: An anti-terrorism court awarded on Friday death sentence on 40 counts to the convicts of Rasheedabad carnage which claimed 40 lives and left 73 people injured on Oct 7, 2004.

Judge Chaudhry Ameer Muhammad Khan of the ATC-2, established under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997, also awarded 10-year rigorous imprisonment to convict Irfan Ali Shah, besides imposing a collective fine of Rs24 million.

A powerful bomb explosion had taken place early in the morning of Oct 7, 2004 in Rasheedabad Colony of the city when hundreds of people were coming out of an open meeting place after attending the first death anniversary of Maulana Azam Tariq, an alleged extremist Sunni leader who was gunned down in the federal capital.

Irfan Shah was arrested by the local police few days after the incident. Later, it was claimed that he, along with accomplice Amjad Abbas, drove away with a car in the vicinity of Shah Rukn-i-Alam Colony on Oct 5 and two days later used the same vehicle to detonate the explosives in Rasheedabad.

Car owner Zeeshan reportedly identified Irfan during the identification parade conducted in the police custody. Accused Amjad, however, is still at large and has been declared a proclaimed offender.

Public prosecutor Mehr Najaf Ali Mahey said the prosecution presented as many as 88 witnesses to prove its case against the accused while only two witnesses appeared before the court from the defence. He said five of the prosecution witnesses were those who had identified the accused during the parade.