SHAFAQNA PAKISTAN (Shia News Agency)
When the Pakistan government lifted its moratorium on the death penalty in the aftermath of the Peshawar school attack, there was one particular case that most judges would have wanted to avoid. In the four years since Mumtaz Qadri assassinated Salmaan Taseer – the then governor of the most powerful province of Pakistan – the former Punjab Elite Force officer has had lawyers and judges rally for him in the hundreds; had a mosque named after him; incited a police officer to shoot an inmate; and generally been the emblem of resistance with respect to any reform to Pakistan’s blasphemy law, which has become a veritable guillotine for religious minorities. Qadri, the most illustrious of the approximately 8,000 criminals on death row, finally has been awarded the death sentence. “The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday upheld the conviction of Mumtaz Qadri, the killer of former Punjab governor Salman Taseer, under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). A two member bench comprising Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi and Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui dismissed the appeal” write Dawn. Qadri’s defence team, which outnumbers the police presence in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and includes two former high court judges, appealed against their client’s death sentence last month. Former Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court (LHC) Khawaja Muhammad Sharif, a member of Qadri’s defence team, has identified “flaws” in the prosecution’s case, represented by Advocate General (AG) Mian Abdur Rauf. Sharif argues that the verdict that was handed down in October 2011 by the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) was invalid because their client’s act was not an act of terrorism. In Oct 2011, an anti-terrorist court (ATC) in Rawalpindi had sentenced Qadri to death on two counts under section 302 PPC and 7 Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) for killing Taseer. Following the sentencing, Qadri’s counsels had challenged the ATC’s decision through two applications the same month. Some lawyers threw rose petals at Qadri when he arrived in court days after the killing. The judge who convicted Qadri was forced to flee the country after death threats. Blasphemy is extremely sensitive issue in Pakistan and several minority members have been convicted in blasphemy charges so far. There have several voices to amend this law but still no change has been brought in the legislation regarding blasphemy laws.
pakistan.shafaqna.com
