KARACHI, Jan 24: An appeal filed by two convicts in a murder case was allowed on Thursday by an appellate bench of the Sindh High Court.

The bench, comprising Justice Ghulam Nabi Soomro and Justice Muhammed Ashraf Leghari, was hearing an appeal filed by Baz Muhammed and Faiz Muhammed.

The appellants had challenged their conviction of a life term together with a fine of Rs 20,000, for the murder of Mir Muhammad Khan in 1996 through their counsel Mehmood A. Qureshi.

The counsel drew the attention of the court to material differences between the statement of the complainant, Sher Muhammed and star witness Sher Afzal.

The bench, while allowing the appeal, ordered the release of the appellants also.

The bench also disposed of the connected revision appeal filed by the complainant for enhancement of life term to death sentence.

NIGERIANS: The same bench also dismissed jail appeals filed by two Nigerians who were tried and convicted by the Special Court for Control of Narcotics (CNS).

The accused were arrested by the ANF at the Jinnah Terminal, with 58 and 77 capsules containing heroin powder. The capsules, weighing 956 and 885 grams, were recovered from the stomachs of the accused at JPMC.

The accused pleaded guilty and sought mercy from the court which, taking a lenient view, awarded five-year jail term to each of the accused, Batholemew Oratakwe and Christian Chukwu.

ATA APPEALS: The SHC also dismissed in limini two state appeals against ATC verdicts, challenging the acquittal of six accused persons through two separate impugned judgments of anti-terrorism courts, Karachi.

The bench comprised Justice Ghulam Nabi Soomro and Justice Muhammad Ashraf Leghari which observed that “the impugned judgments do not appear to be suffering from any illegality or legal flaw and the respondents have been rightly acquitted.”

The state made Muhammad Saeed, Asif Zubair, Farhan Madni, Muhammad Wahab Qureshi and Muhammad Shakeel as respondents in first appeal while Muhammad Usman was made respondent in second one.