KARACHI, March 29: An anti-terrorism court on Saturday sentenced a man to life imprisonment in a kidnapping for ransom case.

Judge Abdul Ghafoor Memon of ATC-II, who pronounced the judgment, also ordered that the convict’s property be sealed off.

The verdict came when the court found Amir Bux alias Ghous Mohammad alias Ghousoo Brohi alias Sudheer Brohi, son of Mohammad Ramzan, guilty of kidnapping Ziaur Rehman and receiving ransom from the victim’s family. The co-accused, Attaullah, son of Dur Mohammad, was acquitted on account of a lack of incriminating evidence against him.

In his final arguments, the defence counsel said that his clients were implicated in the case and the prosecution had failed to prove their involvement. He pleaded for their acquittal.

However, the special public prosecutor, Nasir Durrani, submitted that the accused had kept the victim for 30 days in their custody. He argued that Ziaur Rehman was fully capable of identifying the accused and he did the same during an identification parade conducted in the court of a judicial magistrate. He demanded the death penalty for the accused.

The prosecution said that the accused, Amir Bux, with the help of his associates, had kidnapped Ziaur Rehman on Sept 9, 2007 from his ECI ready-mix plant situated near Hamdard University, Manghopir Road.

The kidnappers had demanded Rs20 million as ransom from the victim’s family. Later, they reportedly reduced the ransom amount to Rs2.5 million and released the victim after receiving the money.

Attaullah and Amir Bux were indicted on Feb 2, 2008 on charges of kidnapping Ziaur Rehman. They pleaded not guilty and opted to contest the case. The court examined around 13 prosecution witnesses during the course of the trial.

The police had registered a case (FIR No 201/07) under Sections 365-A and 395/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-terrorism Act 1997 at the Manghopir police station on the complaint of the victim’s brother.

The co-accused, Imam Ali, Pehalwan alias Lakhpati, Peeroo alias Lapri, Mohammad Bux alias Chimmi Brohi, Nawab alias Jalal Brohi and, Luqman alias Akber, were declared absconders by the court that ordered that the case file against the absconding accused be kept dormant till their arrest.

Notices to PPP leaders

The civil judge and judicial magistrate-X, South, Asif Ahmed, issued notices to the leaders of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) including Sindh chief minister designate, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Nisar Khuhro and others for not appearing in court in a case registered against them despite repeated remainders.

According to the prosecution, the case (FIR No358/04) was registered at Preedy police station under Sections 147,148,149, 353,427/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code, for damaging many vehicles during a protest demonstration on June 18, 2004.

They, along with PPP leaders Rashid Rabbani, Sassui Palejo, Syed Murad Ali Shah, Muzaffar Ali Shujra, Najmi Alam, Raheel Iqbal, Dr Mehreen Bhutto, Sharfunnisa Laghari and Marvi Mazhar had taken out a procession to protest against the killing of a PPP leader, Munawwar Suharwardi, and allegedly damaged a number of vehicles.

Earlier, the court had also issued notices to the PPP leaders; however, they failed to comply with court’s orders.