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KARACHI, Nov 13: The Sindh High Court on Monday set aside conviction of two activists of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi in a sectarian killing case and ordered their release if not involved in other cases.
Mohammed Azam and Ataullah were sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court in Karachi for killing Mohammed Hamid Ali Rizvi on Sept 1, 2001, within the limits of the Clifton police Karachi.
Their appeal against conviction were heard by SHC's division bench, comprising Justice Rehmat Hussain Jaffery and Justice Mr Yasmeen Abbasey.
Their counsel Mushtaq Ahmed contended trial court erred in awarding capital punishment to the appellants as there were legal defects in the prosecution case.
He said that the prosecution had miserably failed to prove its case against the appellants and they may be acquitted of charge. State counsel supported the trial court judgment and sought dismissal of the appeal.
The court after perusal of evidence of the case and hearing the arguments of both side counsel, for reasons to be recorded later, allowed the appeal and acquitted the appellants of murder charges.
DRUG CASE: A division bench of SHC, comprising Justice Rehmat Hussain Jaffery and Justice Yasmeen Abbasey, on Monday set aside the life imprisonment punishment awarded to three accused by CNS Court, in a narcotics case.
Appellants/accused namely Ghulam Rasool, Abdul Ghafoor and Rehman alias Imam Bux were convicted and awarded life term to each of them, by the judge of CNS (Control of Narcotic Substances) Court, Thatta, on April 13, 2006.
The appellants/accused moved plea before SHC against the judgment of the CNS Court, Thatta.
The bench after hearing the arguments set aside the verdict of the trail court and set free all the three appellants.
CORRUPTION CHARGE: Special Court for Custom and Taxation in Karachi Monday exonerated former Olympian and national hockey team captain Mansoor Ahmed and two other custom officials, Feroz Ahmed and Ayub Tahir, in a corruption case.
Submitting an acquittal application, defendants counsel Mohammad Farooq and Sohail Muzafar contended that their clients were tried in same offence by an Accountability Court and therefore they could not be tried again on the same offence. They sought acquittal of the applicants in the case.—APP/PPI
