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Islamabad High Court rejects Mumtaz Qadri appeal

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The advocates also need to be persecuted who threw rose petals on him. Btw good job pak court. Hope he quickly send to to the gallow.
 
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Hang him quickly, a lesson goes to everyone Don't took law in your own hands.
 
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IHC upholds death sentence for Mumtaz Qadri
HASEEB BHATTI
ISLAMABAD: 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.

The bench had reserved the judgment on Feb 11 after Advocate General Islamabad Mian Abdul Rauf, the prosecutor in the case, and Qadri’s counsels, including former Lahore High Court chief justice Khawaja Mohammad Sharif and retired Justice Mian Nazeer – concluded their arguments.

Death sentence remains, 7 ATA void
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.

The first petition had demanded that Qadri's death sentence should be quashed and the second asked for Section 7 of the ATA to be declared void from the sentencing.

In its ruling on the appeal today, the IHC rejected Qadri's application against his death sentence under the PPC but accepted his application to void ATA's Section 7.

Qadri's counsels have planned to challenge IHC's decision to uphold his death penalty in the Supreme Court.

With the removal of Section 7, Qadri may still face the death sentence but will likely not be executed. Although the government has recently done away with the moratorium on capital punishment, the hangings since then have been those of terror convicts only.

With the acceptance of Qadri's plea demanding the exclusion of anti-terror clauses, the case is open to go for a retrial in a sessions court.


In light of today's verdict, security around the IHC had been tightened and paths leading to the court had been sealed with barbed wires due to the sensitive nature of the case. Unauthorised personnel were also barred from entering the court.

Qadri, a former commando of Punjab police’s Elite Force, was sentenced to death for assassinating former Punjab governor Salman Taseer in Islamabad’s Kohsar Market. Qadri said he killed Taseer over the politician's vocal opposition to the country's harsh blasphemy laws.

He had confessed to shooting Taseer dead outside an upmarket coffee shop close to the latter's residence in the capital on Jan 4.


Blasphemy is an extremely sensitive issue in Pakistan where 97 per cent of the population is Muslim and unproven claims regularly lead to mob violence.
 
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Good decision,unfortunately there would some people in our country who would disagree with this decision.

some??? you are understating the truth. some hundred millions is the right word.
 
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the pathetic thing about this Qadri's case is that his own fellows who served along him and the one who arrested him refused to testify against him - the only thing binding him to the case was his own confession that he killed that man -
if his lawyers would have got to through that confession out, then Qadri would have been a free man ----good decision by the court
 
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His lawyers will go to the Supreme Court and my 6th sense tells me that his death sentence will eventually be converted into life imprisonment. You watch.
 
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Please hang him fast as well. Nobody should be allowed to take the law into their own hands.
 
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I thought to say farewell to Mr. Mumtaz Qadri. But then Supreme Court is there.

Nevertheless i don't think the president will reject his appeal for mercy.
 
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IHC verdict carefully saves Taseer killer from immediate execution

Having failed to find any justification to condone cold-blooded killing of Governor Taseer by his own bodyguard, Punjab Police Constable, Mumtaz Qadri, Islamabad High Court (IHC) upheld his death sentence under Section-302 of the Pakistan Penal Code. The court, however, played safe and made sure to strike out a terrorism conviction, making it unlikely he will be executed soon.

The government of Nawaz Sharif, under pressure from mighty establishment, has ordered immediate execution of terror convicts.

Qadri was being defended in the court by two judicial luminaries; one retired chief justice and another retired judge of Lahore High Court who tried to convince IHC that murder of Governor Taseer was justified by his own bodyguard. IHC dismissed the appeal against the death sentence but declared Qadri’s death sentence under the Anti-Terrorism Act null and void. Qadri admitted shooting Taseer, saying he objected to the politician’s calls to reform Pakistan’s strict blasphemy laws which can carry the death penalty.

Related story: What is more disturbing in Salman Taseer’s murder; crime or its glorification?

An anti-terrorism court handed down double death sentences for murder and terrorism to Qadri in late 2011. However, the self-confessed killer of the former governor Punjab had filed an appeal in the court against his conviction which the IHC dismissed. Qadri, shot Taseer outside an upmarket coffee shop in Islamabad, saying he objected to the politician’s calls to reform strict blasphemy laws. Qadri’s lawyer Justice Mian Nazeer said they had not yet decided about appealing to the Supreme Court, but were pleased with the ruling on the terrorism charges.

Earlier, Qadri’s case took an interesting turn when the IHC remarked that even a judge cannot touch an accused after awarding him punishment, yet the defense counsel insisted that a person can kill another person under unusual circumstances. Earlier, on February 7 when the two judges resumed hearing in the case of the case, Justice Siddiqui questioned whether the case should be decided on the basis of emotions or the letter of the law.

Counsel for Qadri Justice (retd) Mian Nazir Akhar insisted that “anyone can be killed under unusual circumstances.” Quoting examples from Islamic history, he mentioned incidents in which blasphemers were killed for making derogatory remarks against the Holy Prophet (pbuh) and their act was appreciated by the then rulers.

The judge who convicted Qadri was forced to flee the country after death threats.

Related story: Blasphemy Law is responsible for extremism, says known Islamic scholar

IHC verdict carefully saves Taseer killer from immediate execution | The Passive Voices
 
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IHC verdict carefully saves Taseer killer from immediate execution

Having failed to find any justification to condone cold-blooded killing of Governor Taseer by his own bodyguard, Punjab Police Constable, Mumtaz Qadri, Islamabad High Court (IHC) upheld his death sentence under Section-302 of the Pakistan Penal Code. The court, however, played safe and made sure to strike out a terrorism conviction, making it unlikely he will be executed soon.

The government of Nawaz Sharif, under pressure from mighty establishment, has ordered immediate execution of terror convicts.

Qadri was being defended in the court by two judicial luminaries; one retired chief justice and another retired judge of Lahore High Court who tried to convince IHC that murder of Governor Taseer was justified by his own bodyguard. IHC dismissed the appeal against the death sentence but declared Qadri’s death sentence under the Anti-Terrorism Act null and void. Qadri admitted shooting Taseer, saying he objected to the politician’s calls to reform Pakistan’s strict blasphemy laws which can carry the death penalty.

Related story: What is more disturbing in Salman Taseer’s murder; crime or its glorification?

An anti-terrorism court handed down double death sentences for murder and terrorism to Qadri in late 2011. However, the self-confessed killer of the former governor Punjab had filed an appeal in the court against his conviction which the IHC dismissed. Qadri, shot Taseer outside an upmarket coffee shop in Islamabad, saying he objected to the politician’s calls to reform strict blasphemy laws. Qadri’s lawyer Justice Mian Nazeer said they had not yet decided about appealing to the Supreme Court, but were pleased with the ruling on the terrorism charges.

Earlier, Qadri’s case took an interesting turn when the IHC remarked that even a judge cannot touch an accused after awarding him punishment, yet the defense counsel insisted that a person can kill another person under unusual circumstances. Earlier, on February 7 when the two judges resumed hearing in the case of the case, Justice Siddiqui questioned whether the case should be decided on the basis of emotions or the letter of the law.

Counsel for Qadri Justice (retd) Mian Nazir Akhar insisted that “anyone can be killed under unusual circumstances.” Quoting examples from Islamic history, he mentioned incidents in which blasphemers were killed for making derogatory remarks against the Holy Prophet (pbuh) and their act was appreciated by the then rulers.

The judge who convicted Qadri was forced to flee the country after death threats.

Related story: Blasphemy Law is responsible for extremism, says known Islamic scholar

IHC verdict carefully saves Taseer killer from immediate execution | The Passive Voices
Eventually somehow Qadri will be out
 
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