RAWALPINDI, Oct 2: Judge of Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi Bench Justice Sagheer Ahmad Qadri paid a surprise visit to Adiala Jail on Sunday and inspected the cell of Mumtaz Qadri, who has been sentenced to death on two counts for assassinating former governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer, official sources told Dawn.

They said that Justice Qadri visited the jail on the directives of Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry to check whether the convict had been shifted to the ‘death cell’ as reported in a section of the press.

They said that according to law, a convicted person cannot shifted to the death cell unless his/her appeal to the high court was rejected. However, Qadri’s lawyers have enough time to file an appeal against the conviction before LHC’s Rawalpinidi bench.

When contacted, Superintendent Adiala Jail Mohsin Rafiq confirmed that Mr Justice Sagheer Ahmad Qadri had visited the jail to inspect the cell of Mumtaz Qadri. However, he found him in the high security barrack, instead of death cell.

The superintendent said the judge also talked to Mumtaz Qadri.

“Yes, he is being kept in high security barrack,” superintendent Mohsin Rafiq said.

Mr Justice Qadri also visited the jail kitchen and Juveniles barrack and some other parts of the jail.

Meanwhile, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on Sunday night visited the Benazir Bhutto Hospital to inquire after the Rangers who had sustained injuries in a road accident while escorting his convoy on Friday.

The chief justice went to Ward No 9 where the injured Ranger Muhammad Ikhtaq is getting treatment for back injury.

He was injured when the convoy was going towards Benazir Bhutto International Airport.— Staff Reporter