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Mumtaz Qadri loses bid to review death sentence
[Khaleej Times] Islamabad: The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday rejected a review petition against the death sentence of former elite force guard Mumtaz Qadri for killing Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard 2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers 3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... governor Salman Taseer. A three-judge bench of the apex court headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa took up Qadri's review petition against the court's October 6 order for maintaining his death penalty. Mumtaz Qadri was feted as a hero by forces of Evil after he shot Salman Taseer 28 times in broad daylight in 2011. He later admitted the killing, saying he objected to the politician's calls to reform Pakistain's controversial blasphemy laws. Rights groups say these are frequently used to pursue vendettas, sometime against religious minorities. Taseer had also been vocal in his support of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who has been on death row since 2010 after being found guilty of blasphemy. "The review petition has been dismissed" by a three-judge panel headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, Qadri's lawyer Khwaja Mohammed Sharif said. Khwaja said his client's last option was to file a mercy petition to the President of Pakistain. In its ruling, the Supreme Court also declared the Islamabad High Court (IHC) decision of annulling the death sentence under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) null and void. The sentence was first awarded by an anti-terrorism court and was then upheld by the IHC before being challenged in the apex court. Last month, Qadri threatened to commit suicide if he is not allowed to meet his family in a separate room. Earlier, when his brother and father went to meet him at Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail, they were only allowed to see him through an iron fence owing to security concerns. However, there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly... Qadri protested against the move and threatened to commit suicide if he was not allowed to meet his family in a separate room. Qadri was sentenced to death for the murder of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer in Islamabad's Kohsar Market on January 4, 2011. During the hearing, which continued for almost 45 minutes, former Lahore High Court (LHC) judge Mian Nazir Akhtar failed to point out any error in the court's judgement, resulting in dismissal of the review petition over non-maintainability. Further, Justice Khosa remarked that it was not proved that Salman Taseer had committed blasphemy. Posted by: Fred 2015-12-17 |
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