Death warrants for March 17 seal fate of two murder convicts

Karachi
An anti-terrorism court (ATC), headed by Judge Anand Ram Seerani, which had rejected the pardon plea of two death row convicts on March 6, issued fresh death warrants for March 17 against Muhammed Afzal and Muhammed Faisal, on Monday.
The prison authorities were directed to take the prisoners to the gallows early morning under the supervision of a judicial magistrate after the completion of legal formalities.
Families of the convicts, on death row for murdering Abdul Jabbar during a robbery in Korangi in 1998, had earlier moved the Sindh High Court to stay the executions claiming the victim’s family had pardoned the accused following the payment of blood money.
However, the ATC after granting a day’s time to the families to submit a legal document as proof of the agreement had observed that the document submitted was inadmissible under the provisions of Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.
ATA provisions observed that a settlement reached by payment of compensation to the deceased’s family was not enough to get the sentences pardoned.
The trial court had on March 4 upheld the SHC’s five-day stay - issued on March 2 – deferring the hanging originally scheduled for March 6.
The two convicts along with a co-accused, Kashif Khan were awarded the death penalty on July 7, 1999. Khan, however, died during trial.
Petitions challenging the verdict were filed by the convicts in the SHC as well as the SC but were dismissed.
The prisoners had then sent mercy petitions to President Mamnoon Hussain who along with six other mercy pleas from Sindh rejected their appeals too.
In the aftermath of the Army Public School attack in December last year, the government had lifted its moratorium on death sentences and now it has also issued a notification to all the provincial governments to ensure the hangings of those condemned prisoners as well who had committed crimes and killed people even involved in other than the terror cases. At least 22 prisoners have since been executed.
Two convicts associated with a banned militant outfit were hanged at the Karachi Central Jail on February 3. They were found guilty of killing a doctor in Soldier Bazaar area in June, 2001.
Mohammed Azam alias Sharif and Attaullah alias Qasim were sentenced to death in 2004, for the murder of Dr Ali Raza, by an ATC in Karachi. Both the convicts were moved to Sukkur jail from where they were brought to Karachi on January 19.