Sindh High Court orders release of jailed chairman Afaq Ahmed
Tue May 10, 2011
The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday ordered suspension of the life imprisonments of Mohajir Qaumi Movement chairman Afaq Ahmad and others in a murder case.
A single appellate bench of Justice Ghulam Sarwar Korai issued the judgment on appeals against their convictions awarded by the lower court. The court fixed May 23 for next hearing on review applications.
Earlier the court had reserved judgment after hearing final arguments from both the sides. The court observed the evidences and testimony produced by the prosecution in the trial court against the applicants/convicts were not enough to pass such a judgment.
On April 7, 2010, an additional district and sessions judge awarded life imprisonment in a murder case of an MQM activist in 1992.
In the trial court, Afaq Ahmed’s counsel denied the charges, saying his client was innocent and not involved in the said offenses. There was no evidence linking him with the commission of the alleged crime.
The counsel contended that the appellant's appeals is pending since April 2010 and they were incarcerated since April 2004; therefore, he had served major portion of their conviction.
The SHC’s single bench headed by Justice Ghulam Sarwar Korai, after hearing the arguments of the counsel, observed that the appellants had been behind the bars since April 3, 2004, and had served the major portion of their conviction. The court observed that hearings in the appeals were mostly adjourned on the part of the complainant side and granted applications regarding suspension of the sentence against the surety of Rs.3,00,000 each.