ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected review appeals of 12 persons indicted for twin attacks on former president Pervez Musharraf near Jhanda Chichi in 2003 and upheld its earlier decision of September 2006.
A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Muhammad Sair Ali and Justice Ghulam Rabbani heard review appeals of the convicts including seven civilians, one Army and four Air Force personnel, who had been handed over death penalty and other punishment for their involvement in attacks on Musharraf.
The bench, however, sought record from the Defence Ministry for April 6 over sentence of life imprisonment awarded to Amir Sohail and Rana Navid, two civilians convicted by a military appellate court.
Disagreeing with the contentions of Col (Retd) Muhammad Akram, counsel for the petitioners, the court told him that they were not hearing his appeals but a review and if he had any new grounds he could apprise the bench.
Hashmat Ali Habib, counsel for two civilian appellants, contended that they had not filed any appeals in the trial court but strangely their punishment was enhanced to life imprisonment.
The 12 accused of twin attacks included civilians Mushtaq, Rashid Qureshi, Ikhlas, Sarwar Bhatti, Zubair Ahmad, Rana Naveed and Aamir Sohail.
Arshad Mahmood belonged to the Army while Khalid Mehmood, Nawazish Ali, Niaz Ahmad and Adnan were the personnel of Air Force. Another accused Shazia Mubashir was acquitted by an anti-terrorist court.
Two simultaneous life attempts were made on the life of Pervez Musharraf in Jhanda Cheechi Rawalpindi on December 14 and December 25, 2003.
On September 26, 2006, a bench of the Supreme Court comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Ahmad Chaudhry, Justice Abdul Hamid Dogar and Justice Saad ul Ashahd had rejected the appeal pleas and upheld the High Court decision.
In their appeals they had contended that the cases were registered against them on mala fide intentions and they were sentenced to death without evidence.
They pleaded that they were neither served with notices nor any hearing was held.
On 25 December 2003, suicide attackers detonated two massive bombs as former president Pervez Musharraf's convoy passed on a congested road in Rawalpindi, killing 14 persons and wounding 46 others.
It was the second attempt on his life in 11 days, earlier on December 14, he narrowly escaped a similar attempt. Musharraf remained unhurt in the twin attacks.
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