Convict in Wali Khan Babar murder challenges his death sentence

JournalismPakistan.com | Published April 15, 2015

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Convict in Wali Khan Babar murder challenges his death sentence

KARACHI: Faisal Mehmood, alias Faisal Mota (pictured), has challenged his death sentence awarded in murder of Geo Television journalist Wali Khan Babar in the Sindh High Court.

Dawn reported Wednesday, the convict's counsel Advocate Aamir Masoob Qureshi said in an application that the death sentence was awarded in absentia, therefore the court must declare it illegal. He said that according to Articles 21-L and 31-A of the Anti Terrorism Act 1997, a death sentence cannot be awarded in absentia. Faisal Mota was sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court in absentia on March 1 2014.

The court has been requested to dismiss Mota’s death penalty and send the case for a re-trial. The convict is said to be a worker of Muttahida Qaumi Movement and was arrested last month in Karachi after a raid by Rangers on Nine Zero, the MQM's political headquarters.

On January 13, 2011, Wali Khan Babar was heading home from work when he was shot dead in Karachi's Liaquatabad neighborhood.

Photo courtesy: Dawn

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