Four sentenced to death for kidnapping, murdering lawyer

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) has sentenced four men to death after they were found guilty of kidnapping a 70-year-old lawyer for ransom and killing him.

Awais Ali Hashmi, Muhammad Faizan, Muhammad Saeed and Iftikhar Ahmed Khatri were convicted of kidnapping Advocate Syed Farhat Ali Askari for ransom and later murdering him in May 2020.

The ATC-IV judge, who conducted the trial at the judicial complex inside the central prison, pronounced her order after recording evidence and final arguments from the prosecution and defence sides.

She ruled that the prosecution successfully proved its case against the accused beyond any shadow of doubt, awarding them death sentences for abduction and murder of the senior lawyer.

The convicts were told to pay a fine of Rs1 million each as compensation to the legal heirs of the victim, and in case of failure to pay the fine, they would have to undergo additional one-year imprisonment. The death sentences awarded to them are subject to confirmation by the Sindh High Court.

According to the prosecution, Askari went missing on May 19, 2020, after he left home in Shadman Town to meet a client in Gulshan-e-Maymar. His family received a call from the kidnappers, who demanded Rs40 million as ransom for his release. The accused killed him after his family failed to fulfil their demand.

The lawyer’s body was found with the help of the accused Awais. The deceased, with his hands tied at the back and his mouth covered with tape, was found bundled into a suitcase. An FIR was lodged under sections 302 (premeditated murder), 365-A (kidnapping or abducting for extorting property, valuable security, etc.) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Shahrah-e-Noorjahan police station on the complaint of the victim’s nephew Syed Talha Ali Askari. Later, Section 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act was added in the case.