LHC upholds conviction of terrorists

LAHORE: A Lahore High Court division bench Thursday upheld convictions of eight terrorists in two different explosives material cases.

Safeer Ahmad alias Azeem who was involved in a number of terrorist activities and had a Rs 1 million bounty on his head, Mufti Sagher Ahmed, Ghulam Qadir, Muhammad Yasir, Muhammad Siddique, Abdul Moeed, Ubaidullah Asghar and Syed Muhammad Masood had challenged their convictions through appeals.

In December, 2007, An anti-terrorism court (ATC) awarded 14-years imprisonment to convicts Safeer Ahmad alias Azeem, Mufti Sagher Ahmed, Ghulam Qadir and Muhammad Yasir in a explosives material case registered by Lari Ada police on July 1, 2007.

ATC also awarded 24 years jail term to Safeer Ahmad alias Azeem, Mufti Sagher Ahmed, Ghulam Qadir, Muhammad Yasir, Muhammad Siddique, Abdul Moeed, Ubaidullah Asghar and Syed Muhammad Masood in another explosives material case registered by Hanjarwal police on July 2, 2007.

During the hearing, the defence counsel arguing before the court submitted that the trial court awarded sentence without appreciating case facts and despite lack of evidence.

He contended that the convicts were implicated in the matter without any evidence. He pleaded the court to set aside the sentence and acquit the accused.

However, Additional prosecutor General Punjab Abdul Samad opposed the request and submitted that Lari Ada police arrested the convicts Safeer Ahmad alias Azeem, Mufti Sagher Ahmed, Ghulam Qadir and Muhammad Yasir after recovering explosives material from them. Later, at their pointation, the four other convicts were arrested and the raiding team recovered 16 bags of explosives, 100-pressure cooker type bombs, a laptop and a number of other explosive materials.

He submitted that the convicts were not only found guilty during investigations but a forensic report also confirmed bomb making videos, other literature's presence in their laptop. He pleaded the court to dismiss their appeals and upheld their sentence.

The division bench after hearing arguments of parties dismissed appeals and upheld the decision of ATC.