Pakistan court upholds death penalty for 9 terrorists involved in 2004 attack

The Sindh High Court in Pakistan has upheld the death sentence of nine terrorists accused of carrying out an attack on security forces in 2004. The attack killed 10 people, including six army personnel, international media reported. An Anti-Terrorism Court in February 2006 had awarded death penalties to 11 suspected militants but all of them had appealed against the verdict.

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Two acquitted 

However, on Friday, the Sindh High Court located in Karachi upheld the verdict. The court awarded death penalties to nine terrorists and acquitted two amongst the 11 who were accused of attacking the convoy of a top commander near the Clifton Bridge in Karachi. Ten people including six army personnel and three policemen were killed in the attack carried out by a  banned militant outfit.

In a big development on February 12, Islamist militant Saeed was convicted for five and a half years in two terror financing cases against him.

The 26/11 mastermind, Hafiz Saeed was convicted on Wednesday under ATA Section 11-F (2) and 11-N. Additionally, he has been slapped with a fine of Rs15,000 in each case. This came even after the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Lahore accepted his plea to club all the pending cases against him and then announce the verdict. The 26/11 mastermind and UN-designated terrorist Hafiz Saeed had also pleaded "not guilty." Meanwhile, there are speculation that he will most likely be released soon after the verdict of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), as per sources who also stated that the intentional loopholes in the verdict allow his release. The FATF will hold a meeting in Paris on February 16 to decide whether or not Pakistan should be blacklisted for failing to act against terror.

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