LAHORE, March 18: The Lahore High Court on Thursday adjourned sine die the appeal of Rehmat Shah Afridi, editor-in-chief of The Frontier Post, against his death sentence.

The appeal was listed for hearing before a special division bench comprising Justices Syed Tasadaq Husain Jilani and Mohammad Saeed Akhtar, but was left over when the court time ended.

Mr Afridi was awarded death sentence on June 27, 2001, by an anti-narcotics court of Lahore which also slapped on him a fine of Rs2 billion on two counts of drugs possession. As much as 20kg of marijuana was recovered from his car and more of it from a truck linked to him in Faisalabad.

He was arrested from a Lahore hotel on April 2, 1999. His counsel Syed Ehsan Qadir Shah and special public prosecutor Khawaja Sultan Ahmad were waiting for their turn when the court adjourned the hearing with a date in office.

MARKET FEE: The Lahore High Court on Thursday adjourned until March 22 the hearing of a petition of 16 industries against the levy of market fee under the Punjab Agriculture Produce Market Ordinance, 1978.

A full bench, comprising Justices Javed Buttar, Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry and Syed Jamshed Ali, heard arguments of Advocate Shahid Karim against the levy by market committees. Advocate Ijaz Awan was to argue the case when the proceedings were adjourned. Advocate-General Syed Shabbar Raza Rizvi was also present.