death penalty news July 6, 2004
PAKISTAN: Pakistan hands death penalty to three militants A Pakistani anti-terrorism court sentenced three members of an outlawed Islamic group to death on Tuesday, finding them guilty of killing at least six minority Shi'ite Muslims, lawyers said. The convicts belong to the extremist Sunni Muslim Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group, which has ties with the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan and al Qaeda-linked militants. They were convicted in five separate terrorism cases, including the killing of a Shi'ite Muslim cleric in May 2001. They also killed a Shi'ite Muslim doctor and a businessman the same year, state prosecutor Mazhar Qayum told Reuters. Defence lawyer M.R. Saeed said his clients were innocent. "We are going to appeal against the verdict," he said. Police blame Lashkar-e-Jhangvi for much of the sectarian bloodletting in the restive port city of Karachi as well as several high profile attacks targeting government officials and Western interests. In recent months, police arrested several key militants belonging to the group. But police said the Jhangvi network had managed to activate new cells. Hundreds of people have been killed in religious and political violence in recent years in Pakistan, and at least 70 people died in Karachi alone since early May, mostly in religious attacks. The majority of victims of sectarian attacks are from Pakistan's Shi'ite minority, which accounts for around 20 percent of the population. The overwhelming majority of Pakistanis are Sunni Muslims. (source: Reuters)
