KARACHI: An appellate bench of the Sindh High Court on Tuesday commuted the death penalty of an Al Qaeda militant to life imprisonment.

Anwarul Haq was awarded capital punishment on four counts in a 2006 suicide attack case that killed an American diplomat and three others near the US consulate. He was charged with masterminding the suicide attack.

The prosecution said the suspected suicide bomber, identified as Mohammad Tahir, had smashed a car packed with explosives into the vehicle carrying the US diplomat. Commuting the death penalty, the bench said there were contradictions in the case of the prosecution.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2017