Pak Court Stays Implementation Of Death Sentence To Qadri

Islamabad, Oct 11: A Pakistani court today stayed the implementation of death sentence given to the self-confessed assassin of Governor Salmaan Taseer till it decided his appeal against the verdict.

A bench of the Islamabad High Court headed by Chief Justice Iqbal Hameed-ur-Rehman issued the order after it began hearing the appeal filed by Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, the police guard who gunned down Taseer outside a restaurant in Islamabad on January 4.

Qadri, who publicly confessed to killing Taseer for criticising the country’s controversial blasphemy law, was represented in the High Court by Khwaja Muhammad Sharif, a retired Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court. Sharif contended that the anti-terrorism court which conducted Qadri’s trial did not have the power to give him the death sentence.

From: http://ping.fm/RKWxs