KARACHI, March 29: All the five accused facing trial in the US consulate carbomb case on Saturday while recording their statements under section 342 of CrPC pleaded their innocence before Aley Maqbool Rizvi, judge of the anti- terrorism court-1.
Mohammed Imran, Mohammed Haneef, Mohammed Ashraf, Zubair and Sharib, alleged to be associated with the banned Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Almi, earlier refused to give statements on oath and also refused to produce any witness in their defence.
The accused said they were innocent, had no connection with the commission of the crime and been falsely implicated in the case by the police just to show to higher authorities that a major case had been solved.
They also denied having participated in any conspiracy regarding the incident of June 2002 in which 13 persons, including women and children, were killed when a suicide bomber dashed a Suzuki pickup laden with explosives against a concrete barricade of the US consulate at Karachi. 36 others were injured. Dozens of vehicles were damaged.
The police later arrested the under-trial accused in this case.
They are also accused in another case of a conspiracy to kill President General Pervez Musharraf. It was alleged that they parked a Suzuki jeep laden with explosives on Sharea Faisal. Their plan failed as the detonator allegedly developed some fault.
The court, after recording the statements of the accused in the presence of counsel Abdul Waheed Katpar, Khawaja Naveed Ahmed and Raza Abidi, fixed April 7 for final arguments, after which judgment will be reserved.
Khwaja Naveed Ahmed, advocate, assisted by Farooq Hayat, advocate, also submitted certified copies of an application moved by investigation officer SI Dawood Akbar requesting the judicial magistrate, South X, to record the confessional statement of accused Mohammed Ashraf.
He also submitted a copy of the statement made by Ashraf before the JM in which he complained of severe torture by the police and the refusal to record a confessional statement.
Assistant Advocate General Sindh Habib Ahmed is appearing as special public prosecutor in the case.
HEARING ADJOURNED: Judge Feroz Mehmood Bhatti of the anti-terrorism court-1 put off on Saturday the hearing of a rocket firing case against two activists of the banned Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Almi.
Trial of Asif Ramzi, absconder, and Sabir Ali Waseem is being held inside the Central Prison, Karachi.
On Saturday Mohammed Ashraf Mughal, counsel appointed by the court for Asif Ramzi, and Amir Mansoob Qureshi, counsel for Sabir Ali Waseem, were present. Special Public Prosecutor Maula Bux Bhatti was also present. The court had fixed the case for Saturday for the cross-examination of the judicial magistrate I, South, who held the identification parade of Sabir.
According to the prosecution, on Nov 23, Sabir Ali Waseem reached the lane opposite Government Commerce College on Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road and fixed a rocket launcher. They were taking aim at the second and third floors of Sheraton Hotel where Americans were staying. However, the rocket misfired causing damage to the boundary wall and a wall of a classroom of the college.
Panicked by the detonation, the accused fled leaving the rocket launcher and other ammunition at the spot next to a junkyard.
Sabir was later arrested by the police and was identified by labourers working at the junkyard. — APP