Justice Delivered: Zainab’s Murderer To Be Hanged To Death On Oct 17

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Justice delivered: Zainab’s murderer to be hanged to death on Oct 17

The accused had appealed the president for mercy which was rejected.

Islamabad (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 12th October, 2018) The convict in Zainab murder case will be hanged to death on October 17.

The Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) gave the ruling in Zainab murder case on Friday.

ATC Judge Sheikh Sajjad Ahmad issued death warrants for the convict, Imran. The black warrants will be sent to the session judge, Lahore.

The convict had appealed the president for mercy which was also rejected. Imran will be hanged to death in Kot Lakhpat Central Jail in Lahore on Oct 17.

The Supreme Court had on June 12 dismissed convict Imran Ali's appeal in Zainab murder case and upheld his death sentence.

The three-member bench comprising Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik and Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah observed that the appellant-convict Imran Ali admitted his guilt and had got recorded a confessional statement at the time of framing of charges during the trial.

The bench held that apart from pleading guilty to the charge and making a confession by the petitioner, there were many pieces of evidence (CCTV footage, photographs, DNA tests, Medical Reports) brought on the record by the prosecution which proved every word of the confession to be correct.

The bench dismissing the appeal had upheld the sentence awarded by the trial court and held that the appellant did not deserve any leniency as he had admitted committing similar offences with eight other minor victims.

Little Zainab went missing on Jan 4, shortly after she left home to go to a neighbour's house. Her parents were in Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah when the incident took place. After relatives reported her missing, the police recovered her body on Jan 9 from a heap of garbage.

The incident sparked unrest and massive protests in Kasur district resulting in violent clashes with the police.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar and the Lahore High Court had taken suo motu notices of the incident and had ordered a speedy trial of the culprit. Following one of the largest manhunts in the province, then Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif announced the arrest of Imran Ali.

On Feb 17, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) had awarded death sentence on four counts to Imran Ali in Zainab murder case following a four-day trial conducted in the central jail.

The convict was also separately given life imprisonment and a seven-year jail term in addition to the death penalty.

The convict was involved in eight other similar cases wherein six victims had died and only two survived.