KARACHI, March 18: The doctor brothers challenged their conviction and sentences by an anti-terrorism court in the Sindh High Court on Friday. They submitted through Advocate M. Ilyas Khan that there there was no evidence against them and they had been convicted on the basis of conjectures and presumptions.

The confessional statements made by Jundullah activists involved in ambushes on the the Karachi corps commander and a Rangers mobile were extracted by police. They could not be corroborated and were subsequently retracted by the co-accused. The appellants said their conviction on the basis of forced, uncorroborated and retracted confessions had resulted in a grave miscarriage of justice warranting the interference of the appellate court.

BAIL PLEA: Justice Zawwar Hussain Jaffery issued a notice to the prosecution for March 24 in a bail application moved by accused Farooq Mengal in the Afreen Beg murder case through Advocate Azizullah Shaikh.

The applicant submitted that he was innocent but had been implicated in the case by the murder victim’s brothers, who blamed him for the break-up of Ms Beg’s first marriage and also opposed his marriage to her. He said he earned enough as an actor and director and did not need any financial help from his murdered wife. The only evidence against him was retracted confessional statement extorted from a co-accused (Mohammad Bux) and his bail application was dismissed by the trial court along with that of another co-accused, Ms Zahida, by a single order.

APPEAL ADMITTED: A division bench, comprising Justices Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Azizullah M. Memon, meanwhile, admitted an appeal against acquittal of an accused in a narcotics case.

Filed by Advocate Rana M. Shamim on behalf of the state, the appeal said the acquittals were ordered only on the ground that consignment booked by the accused was first cleared by the customs authorities and later detained for re-examination and found to have 27 kilograms of heroin concealed in a big consignment of rice, spices and garments meant for export.

The anti-narcotics court wrongly ruled against the second scrutiny of the export con-

signment, the state appeal said.