Man sentenced to death for kidnapping, murdering lawyer
KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Tuesday sentenced a man to death on two counts in a case pertaining to the kidnapping and murder of a lawyer after his ransom demand was not fulfilled. Deceased advocate Syed Farhat Ali Askari, 70, was abducted by some criminals in 2020. Later, his wife received a ransom call demanding Rs40 million, otherwise the kidnappers threatened to kill her husband…
An anti-terrorism court in Karachi sentenced a man to death for the kidnapping and murder of a lawyer in 2020. Syed Farhat Ali Askari, a 70-year-old advocate, was abducted by criminals who demanded a ransom of Rs40 million. When his wife failed to pay the ransom, the kidnappers killed him by strangling him. The body was found in a suitcase thrown into a drain.
Four accused were arrested and tried by an anti-terrorism court, where all four were convicted in 2023. However, the verdict was challenged in the Sindh High Court, which remanded the case back to the trial court to record the statements of the convicts. After recording the statements and examining the evidence, the ATC-1 Judge found the main accused, Awais Ali Hashmi, guilty on two counts of murder and sentenced him to hang.
The court stated that the act of kidnapping Askari, demanding a ransom, and then murdering him when the ransom was not paid, falls under the definition of terrorism under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997. The other three accused were acquitted as the prosecution failed to prove their case against them.
Written by urgent.news from Dawn - Pakistan's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
