PESHAWAR, Jan 5: The Federal Shariat Court will take up for hearing here on Jan 8 criminal appeals of a man and woman sentenced to death by a trial court for killing the woman’s husband.

The woman, Shehnaz, was charged with killing her husband, Ibrar Ahmad, in connivance with the convict, Aamir, who is a nephew of the deceased.

The appeals of the two convicts were transferred to the Shariat court by a two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court in April last year, observing that as the convicts were also charged under the Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance, 1979, therefore only the Shariat court was competent to hear their appeals.

The two were tried by the court of district and sessions judge, Kohat, and were found guilty of killing the deceased. They were sentenced to death on Oct 3, 2000. They were also found guilty of having illicit relations.

According to the prosecution, the officials of Kohat City Police Station had received a report about the absence of the deceased. The deceased’s brother, Pervaiz, told the police that his brother was settled in the UAE and every year he used to visit his family at Mall Mandhi, Kohat.

He claimed that the last time he came home, he disappeared after a few days and his wife (the appellant) told his family that he had left for the UAE.

The police claimed to have had recovered the body of the deceased from a well on the pointation of Aamir on Aug 11, 1996. Later on, the two recorded their statements, confessing to their guilt.

In their statements they claimed that they loved each other, but the woman was married to the deceased by her parents. They stated that they used to meet in seclusion in the absence of the deceased. Finally, they added, when the deceased came to know of their activities he threatened his wife with dire consequences, following which they decided to kill him.

Both the appellants had retracted their confessional statements, stating that they were illiterate and the police had received their thumb impression on some pieces of paper.

The woman, who was about 24 at the time of occurrence, claimed that she was having two children from the deceased. Under the Qisas and Diyat law, an accused could not be sentenced to death for killing a person if wali (legal heir) of the deceased was a direct descendent of the offender. Counsel of the woman claimed that the trial court erred in sentencing her to death as the wali of her deceased husband were their children who are descendent of the woman.