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India-Pakistan

Musharraf assassination attempt: Case adjourned as defence loses file in riots

2008-01-06

A court hearing the Musharraf assassination attempt case was forced to adjourn as the leading defense lawyer pled he had lost his case files when the dog ate them his flat was burnt in the riots following Benazir’s killing. "Dat's right, yer honor! They burnt me house down!" Leading defence counsel Advocate Abdul Waheed Katpar approached the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC-I) for Karachi division that adjourned the hearing till January 8 (Tuesday). Katpar was supposed to make final arguments before the court on Saturday after which a final judgment was likely to be issued. But when the proceedings began, he sought an adjournment on the grounds that on December 27 some people torched a bank in main Clifton, affecting his apartment, located on the same building’s first floor. He said that the building had to be evacuated and he lost his file and case notes in the process. Special Public Prosecutor Niamat Ali Randhawa offered his file to Katpar and the court also offered the entire proceedings and a file to help him but, on his request, the proceedings were adjourned till Tuesday. The accused, including Muhammad Imran, Muhammad Haneef, Muhammad Ashraf, Sharib alias Arsalan Farooqui and Inspector Waseem of the Pakistan Rangers, are charged and being tried for conspiring and attempting to kill General Musharraf during his visit to Karachi in April 2001.

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India-Pakistan

Macedonian consulate blast: Nine Harkat activists acquitted

2006-11-24

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court set aside Thursday the conviction of nine activists of the banned Harkatul Mujahideen al-Alami and acquitted them of the honorary Macedonian consulate explosion, killing and dacoity charges. Syed Sohail Akhtar alias Mustafa, Zafar Iqbal alias Sohail, Naeem Rafi alias Nimi, Mohammad Atif alias Kamran, Mohammad Khalid, Mahmoodullah, Abdul Razzaq alias Bhaiya, Samirullah alias Somi and Syed Ahmar Kazmi were sentenced to an aggregate 60 years in prison by an anti-terrorism court in Karachi on August 25, 2004. They were prosecuted for killing three persons - Hameed Masih, Muhammad Asif and Ghazala Parveen - at midnight on December 5, 2002. The victims were at the consulate’s office in DHA Karachi at the time. The prosecution also alleged that the appellants also committed a dacoity and took the computer, printer, fax machine, PABX and other articles from the consulate. Appellant counsels Abdul Waheed Katpar and M.R. Syed said the prosecution could not prove its case before a trial court and the benefit of the doubt should have been given to the appellants. They said the statements of eyewitnesses were contradictory and could not be relied upon to convict the appellants. They prayed for an acquittal of the appellants from the charges. Assistant Advocate General Sindh Habib Ahmed supported the trial court judgment and prayed the court to enhance the sentence of the appellants. The SHC’s division bench comprising Justice Rehmat Hussain Jaffery and Justice Yasmeen Abbasey, after hearing the arguments of both sides and perusing the record of the case, for reasons to be recorded later on, set aside the trial court’s conviction and ordered the release of the appellants if they were not involved in other cases.

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India-Pakistan

SHC postpones appeals in Daniel Pearl case

2006-05-31

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday postponed the appeals hearing for four men convicted in the killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl after a request from one of the men's attorneys, an official said. The SHC adjourned the hearing until August 8 after two lawyers who were recently appointed asked for more time to study the case, said Habib Ahmed, a government prosecutor. The lawyers for Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, a British-born militant facing the death sentence for killing Pearl, will replace Abdul Waheed Katpar, who had been Sheikh's defence counsel at trial. Sheikh and three other men, who were sentenced to life in prison, were convicted in July 2002 for their part in Pearl's killing. All the four men have appealed their convictions, but the appeals hearings have been postponed several times. Four other suspects are still at large. Earlier this month, Sheikh was moved to the Central Prison in Karachi from a jail in Hyderabad where he had been held since his conviction. Police cited security reasons for moving Sheikh to Karachi.

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Afghanistan/South Asia

Hearing of Pearl Killer’s Appeal Adjourned

2005-08-17

A provincial high court yesterday adjourned the hearing of an appeal by an extremist sentenced to death for kidnapping and murdering US reporter Daniel Pearl. British-born Omar Saeed Sheikh was convicted of involvement in Pearl’s abduction and given the death penalty by an Anti-Terrorism Court in June 2002. His appeal has been pending for over two years. The hearing at Sindh High Court in the Karachi was adjourned as Omar’s lawyer Abdul Waheed Katpar fell sick, his assistant Mohsin Imam said. “Katpar is in hospital and he cannot argue the case,” Imam said. The court will fix a new date to hear the appeal of Omar and three others who were jailed for life in connection with the murder of the Wall Street Journal correspondent. Pearl disappeared in Karachi on Jan. 23, 2002. A graphic video showing his decapitation was delivered to the US Consulate in the city nearly a month later.

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Afghanistan/South Asia

Harkat deputy chief acquitted of bombing

2005-05-13

The Sindh High Court on Thursday set aside the conviction of deputy chief of the Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Alami, Mohammad Haneef, in the Marina Club car bombing case and ordered his release, if not required in any other case. Tried and sentenced to a total of 39 years in prison with a fine of Rs one million by an anti-terrorism court on December 21, 2002, Haneef had appealed against his conviction in the SHC. His counsel Abdul Waheed Katpar argued that the prosecution presented 'set-up' witnesses in the trial court, which relied upon their evidence and convicted his client for a crime he had not committed. Hitting out at the legal defects in the procedure of identification of the appellant, Katpar argued that the identification was conducted after two weeks of the Haneef's arrest. There was every possibility that the police had shown his client to the witnesses before the identification parade in the presence of a judicial magistrate, he said. He said the identification parade lost its evidentiary value, since Haneef's photos had been published much before an identification parade.

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Afghanistan/South Asia

Appeal Resumes in Pearl Murder Case

2005-03-04

Father of a convicted killer, Sheikh Omar, yesterday said he was in "high spirits" as his appeal resumed at a Pakistan court. Sheikh Omar has been sentenced to death for the kidnap and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. "I have met my son recently and he is in high spirits despite so many years in jail," Ahmed Saeed, father of British-born Sheikh Omar, said outside the Sindh High Court in the southern city of Karachi. Saeed, who lives in London and has traveled to Pakistan for the hearing, declined to speak further. Omar was convicted and given the death penalty for his alleged involvement in the US journalist's death by an anti-terrorism court in June 2002. His appeal has been pending for over two years. Relatives of three other men appealing against life sentences linked to the Pearl case — Salman Saqib, Sheikh Adil and Fahd Naseem — also attended the hearing, and silently witnessed the court proceedings amid tight security. Sheikh Omar and his three fellow convicts were not in court. It was the second session of the hearing at Sindh High Court. The next is due today. Sheikh Omar's lawyer Abdul Waheed Katpar told reporters that his client was not guilty of the brutal killing. "No, no! Certainly not!" "I am trying to prove in the appeal that my client is innocent and was not involved in Pearl's kidnapping or murder," Katpar said. Pearl disappeared in Karachi on Jan. 23, 2002 while investigating militancy in Pakistan. A gruesome video showing his decapitation was delivered to the US Consulate in the city nearly a month later and it took police until May 2002 to find his body. "I argued that Omar's link with Pearl's murder was not proved in the video, which showed his slaying. No one knows who was the author of this video and this evidence can not be admissible," Katpar said.

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Afghanistan/South Asia

Sindh court begins hearing militants' appeals

2005-02-26

The Sindh High Court yesterday started hearing the appeals of four militants convicted of the abduction and murder of Daniel Pearl, lawyers said. The trial of the American journalist began after a delay of more than two-and-a-half-years. British-born militant Ahmad Omar Saeed Shaikh was handed a death sentence by an anti-terrorism court in July 2002 for masterminding the crime, while his three accomplices Shaikh Adil, Fahad Naseem and Salman Saqib were jailed for life. The convicts challenged the verdict and filed an appeal in the high court the same month. The government also appealed to the court asking for enhancement of their convictions. But the high-profile case had remained pending since then mostly because of the absence of defence lawyers, especially those living in other cities for personal or official reasons among others. The delay is common in Pakistan's overworked and crowded courts. Raja Qureshi, one of the prosecutors, said the responsibility for the postponement of the appeal hearing in the past was that of the defence lawyers. "The prosecution had appealed to the court to raise the other three men's life sentences to the death penalty." Abdul Waheed Katpar, one of the defence lawyers, said sometimes the high court's agenda was so full that it hardly had time to take up all the cases earmarked for the day. "But finally formal proceedings started today," he said. "The court heard the charge-sheet against the convicts and the arguments of the defence. I have challenged a few of the prosecutors' witnesses and evidences," he said. "Our stand is that the evidences presented in the anti-terrorism [lower] court were not strong enough." The next hearing of the case is on March 2.

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India-Pakistan

Defence lawyer wants Musharraf to testify

2003-09-07

A defence lawyer asked an anti-terrorism court on Saturday to summon President Gen Pervez Musharraf to testify on whether there was a plot to kill him last year, lawyers said. Four Islamic militants and a former paramilitary soldier are accused of trying to assassinate President Musharraf on April 26, 2002, as he travelled from Karachi’s Quaid-e-Azam International Airport into the city. The prosecution alleges that an explosive-laden car parked along the route failed to explode because a remote-control device malfunctioned. “If the prosecution is claiming the defendants attempted to take General Musharraf’s life and the defendants are denying the charges, he should come and tell the truth in the court,” defence lawyer Abdul Waheed Katpar said. Ummm... I thought it was supposed to be a surprise? Mr Katpar is defending Muhammed Hanif, one of four Islamic militants on trial. The others are Muhammed Imran, Muhammed Ashraf and Muhammed Sharib – all members of the militant group Harakatul Mujahideen Al Almi. The fifth defendant is former paramilitary ranger Mohammed Wasim Akhtar. The state prosecutor said the president was unlikely to appear in court. "'Bout as likely as a monkey flying out of my butt playing a banjo..." “This is a futile exercise on part of defence attorney as the president has immunity from appearing in court, and, if he comes he can appear as prosecution witness and not for the defence,” prosecutor Maula Bakhsh Bhatti said. "It was him they were trying to kill, after all..." The trial, being held in a Karachi prison, started in April but has been delayed for months because of construction work to the prison’s courtroom, lawyers said. On Saturday, four of the defendants recorded statements denying the charges of conspiracy to kill President Musharraf, use of explosives and terrorism. "Nope. Nope. Never happened. Nope. Nope..."

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India-Pakistan

Omar Sheikh refuses to meet British officials

2003-08-07

British born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, sentenced to death for the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl has refused to meet a British Embassy official who requested a routine visit with him at a Hyderabad prison. He would not meet “any Britisher, saying they are enemies of Muslims,” his attorney, Abdul Waheed Katpar, told The Associated Press. The British Embassy had been seeking consular access to Sheikh — a standard practice to inquire about the welfare of its citizens, a provincial official told AP on condition of anonymity. Okay. So rot. Hope they hang you before you die of old age, though...

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India-Pakistan

ATC rejects challenge to jurisdiction

2003-06-04

KARACHI: The Anti-Terrorism Court on Tuesday turned down the application of defence lawyer Abdul Waheed Katpar that the Pervez Musharraf murder conspiracy case be moved to the session court. Announcing his decision, which he had reserved on Monday, Judge Aley Maqbool Rizvi said Section 61 of the Anti-Terrorism Court allowed the court to run the case. Katpar had filed an application on Friday arguing that the case did not qualify for trial in an anti-terrorism court because the motive of the killing was personal. He said police had given the reason that the accused intended to kill President Musharraf because they considered his policies anti-Islamic. "It was just uhhh... personal, Mike."

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India-Pakistan

Terror court jurisdiction challenged by lawyers

2003-06-01

KARACHI: Defence attorneys yesterday challenged the jurisdiction of an anti-terrorism court trying five militants charged with attempting to assassinate Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. "So they were trying to assassinate the president. Show me where it says that's terrorism!" The court was to announce tomorrow whether it was appropriate for the trial to convene in the anti-terror court, said prosecution lawyer Abdul Waheed Khan. It being a Pak court, there's no telling what it'll decide... Among the accused were two men already sentenced to death by a different court for masterminding a suicide car bomb attack outside the US consulate in Karachi that killed 12 Pakistanis. Police allege the accused had parked a Suzuki pick-up truck on a busy commercial road to blow up Musharraf's car when he was visiting this southern port city on April 26 to attend a rally. The same vehicle was later used in the June attack outside the US consulate. That was because they hosed the first explosion... In his petition, defence lawyer Abdul Waheed Katpar said the case had no substance and it did not not fall under the jurisdiction of an anti-terrorism court. "My plea is that neither any act of terrorism had been committed nor the action created any scare or panic in the public, therefore it does not fall in the jurisdiction of an anti-terrorism court," he said. All five defendants, Mohammad Imran Bhai, Hanif Ayub, Arslan Sharib Farooqi, Mohammad Ashraf and Wasim Akhtar, were indicted last month on not guilty pleas.

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India-Pakistan

"Wudn't me!" say consulate boomers

2003-03-30

Five suspected Islamic snuffies militants accused of orchestrating a devastating car bomb that killed 12 people outside the U.S. Consulate told a judge Saturday police extracted their confessions by torture. Denying responsibility for the bombing, the defendants told the judge they were being used as "scapegoats" to ingratiate Pakistan with the U.S. government. If convicted, they could be sentenced to death. "We never gave any voluntary statements of confession," Mohammed Hanif said. "I was tortured, therefore this evidence should not be admissible." Hanif said he was "made to sleep on a slab of ice" while in police custody. Thought I felt a twinge of sympathy there for a second, but it was last night's chili... Hanif's statement was endorsed by the other defendants: Mohammed Ashraf, Mohammed Imran, and Sharib and Mufti Zubair. Imran was reputed to be the head of the al-Aalmi faction that unleashed a reign of terror on Pakland last summer... Hanif said their photographs had appeared in newspapers after their arrest, which should invalidate testimony earlier this month by prosecution witnesses who identified four of the five in a police lineup. The witnesses said they saw the four climb out of the truck moments before it exploded. The suspects also denied any link to the militant group Harkat-ul-Mujahedeen Al-Aalmi, which authorities say has links to the al-Qaeda network. "The allegations of prosecution are in fact a pack of lies," said defense attorney Abdul Waheed Katpar. "I am fully confident that all of the defendants will be freed." "Lies! All lies! A pack of lies! A bucket of lies! Not a word of truth, nope, nope!" The trial, held in a prison for greater security, was adjourned until April 7, when the prosecution will summarize its case. The defense said it has no witnesses to call.

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