#6 Man behind Musharraf’s assassination bid executed
(Updated at 1140 PST)
MULTAN: A Pakistani army man accused of involvement in a plot to kill President General Pervez Musharraf two years ago was executed early on Saturday, jail authorities said.
Islam Siddiqui, 35, was hanged before dawn in central Pakistan's Multan prison, said jail superintendent Malik Ataullah.
Siddiqui, a former soldier, was sentenced to death by a military court for involvement in a plot to kill Musharraf, who is also chief of the army staff, Ataullah said.
Musharraf survived two attempts on his life in December 2003 in Rawalpindi near the capital Islamabad when suspects with alleged links to Al-Qaeda tried to kill him with explosives for supporting the US-led 'war on terror'.
The president had rejected a mercy petition by Siddiqui, who came from the Jacobabad district of southern Sindh province. Siddiqui's body was handed over to his family members for burial in his home town, Ataullah said.
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MULTAN: Muhammad Islam Siddiqui, a member of the Pakistan Army, will be hanged today (Saturday) in New Central Jail Multan. Siddiqui, who belongs to a poor Hari family from Jacobabad, was tried in court martial and was sentenced to death for plotting to kill Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Pervez Musharraf. He made a mercy petition to the president and the vice chief of army staff, but the petition was turned down. He was moved to Multan prison from Sialkot last month. His parents, who met him in prison on Friday, requested the jail superintendent to provide them with an ambulance to take his body to Jacobabad for burial. Jail authorities declined to give information about when the attack was planned and who Siddiqui's accomplices were.