Court sentences 3 to life for murder of Pakistani politician in London
Khawaja Imtiaz (C) speaks to media representatives outside an Anti-Terrorism Court in Islamabad on Thursday. AFP
An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) of Islamabad on Thursday imposed life imprisonment on three accused on the charge of murdering Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Dr Imran Farooq in London and held that party founder Altaf Hussain ordered the killing.
Dr Farooq, a founding member of the MQM, was stabbed and bludgeoned to death near his apartment in London in September 2010.
The Judge Shahrukh Arjumand sentenced Mohsin Ali, Khalid Shamim and Moazzam Ali to life on "charges of murder under conspiracy and abetment," special public prosecutor Khwaja Imtiaz said.
Imtiaz said the judge also concluded that the murder had been ordered by MQM party chief Altaf Hussain — currently in exile in the UK — and called on the Pakistani and British governments to produce him before a court for trial.
The three were also affiliated with MQM at the time of the incident.
"Today's conviction marks a team effort between law agencies in the UK and Pakistan working together to get justice for the murder of Dr Imran Farooq," said British High Commissioner to Pakistan Christian Turner.
In the instant case, the chain of evidence connects each and every accused who has performed a distinctive role for completing the task, the judgment said adding that it is proved that Hussain ordered the killing of Dr Farooq.
It said that two of his other senior party members based in London then communicated the orders to relevant persons based in Pakistan.
Accused Moazzam Ali another senior member working at Nine Zero, the headquarters of MQM, along with accused Khalid Shamim engaged accused Syed Mohsin Ali and Kashif Khan Kamran for fulfilling the job.
The verdict said that the two executors were properly facilitated who went with a sole purpose to London for committing the murder and as per preplanned conspiracy, an innocent person was brutally murdered.
The court also issued arrest warrants for those accused absconding in the case, including Altaf Hussain, Iftikhar Hussain, Mohammad Anwar and Kashif Kamran.
The judgment stated that a compensation of Rs1 million to each of Farooq’s next of kin should be paid and added that charges of murder, conspiracy to murder and aiding and abetting were proven against the accused.
In May, the court had completed the murder trial of the MQM leader after five years and reserved the verdict.
In 2015, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) registered a case against Altaf Hussain for allegedly ordering the murder while nominating three other accused — Khalid Shamim, Mohsin Ali and Moazzam Ali. However, on May 13 the suspects retracted their confessional statements before judge Arjumand and recorded their fresh statements at a hearing held at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail.
The suspects decided not to present any witnesses in their defence.
