KARACHI, Jan 12: A division bench of the Sindh High Court comprising Justice Rehmat Hussain Jaffery and Justice Munib Ahmed Khan on Friday commuted to life imprisonment the death sentences awarded by an anti-terrorism court to five convicts in a kidnapping for ransom case.

Appellants Fida Hussain Khoso, Junaid Rehman, Qurban Ali Khoso, Abdul Rashid, Mohammad Attique Bajwa and Khalid Aziz, who had challenged their conviction, were convicted of kidnapping one, Ahmad Naeem, son of Mohammad Naeem, a car dealer, on June 11, 2004 from Gizri.

Fida Hussain Khoso and his accomplices were awarded death penalty by the ATC-5 Judge, Haq Nawaz Baloch.

Giving benefit of the doubt, the bench ordered release of Fida Hussain and converted the death sentences of the other convicts to life punishment.

The court also directed each of the five convicts to pay Rs100,000 to the family of Ahmad Naeem.

The kidnappers had received Rs6.1 million as ransom against a demand of Rs50 million to release Ahmad Naeem, in August 2004. Ahmad remained in their captivity for 62 days at the residence of Qurban Khoso in Bilal Colony and was let off on August 11, 2004.—APP