Daesh militant handed down life term for killing Navy, police officers

KARACHI: An Anti-Terrorism Court has sentenced Daesh militant Saad Aziz to life imprisonment after convicting him for killing an officer of Pakistan Navy and an official of the Rapid Response Force.

The ATC-VIII found Saad Aziz alias Tin Tin guilty for the murders of Navy Captain Naveed Ahmed and RPF Constable Waqar Hashmi who were killed in separate attacks. Ahmed was targeted in September 2013 on Karsaz Road when he along with his UK-national wife Tracy was heading for the Navy Engineering College from his residence. He died on the spot while Tracy survived the attack. According to the police, both the victims held PhD degrees in ship engineering construction.

Hashmi was killed at the Power House Chowrangi in New Karachi in October 2014 when he was returning home after duty. In both the cases, the assailants had escaped and the FIRs were registered against unknown persons. Aziz was implicated in these cases after his arrest.

Pronouncing the verdict, the judge observed that the prosecution successfully proved the case against the accused beyond the shadow of doubt. The judge also imposed a cumulative fine of Rs500,000 on the convict.

Aziz, who is a graduate of the Institute of Business Administration, has already been awarded death sentence by a military court for the Safoora Goth massacre and the murder of social activist Sabeen Mahmud among other cases. Several other terrorism cases are still pending against him and his four associates, including Tahir Minhas, Asadur Rehman, Azhar Ishrat and Hafiz Nasir Ahmed, who are also death convicts. The judgment was reserved in December and was released to the media on Monday.