Court commutes death sentence to life term

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday commuted the death sentence of a man and his two sons in a double murder case to life imprisonment.A division bench comprising Justice Ghazanfar Ali and Justice Syed Arshad Ali partially allowed the appeals against the death sentence and converted the death sentence of Sherzada and his two sons Janur Rehman and Inayatur Rehman to life imprisonment.During the hearing, Sahibzada Asadullah, counsel for the appellants, submitted that the three convicts were first charged with killing Behramand and Amir Muhammad, residents of Rahimabad, Swat district, over a women-related dispute.He said that the trial court then awarded them the death sentence, against which they filed the appeal in the high court.The lawyer argued that the trial court had erred and did not examine important facts while giving the conviction of death sentence.He said that the empty holes of the gunfire were not got examined from the FSL laboratory, from which it could determine whether the persons died of the gunfire from the convicts or someone else.The lawyer pointed out that some other important legal facts were also hidden from the trial court by the counsels for the complainant and prosecution.Furthermore, he argued that awarding major penalty without solid evidence would be an injustice to the convicts. He requested the court to set aside the conviction.However, the counsel for the complainant and state lawyer opposed the plea of the convicts and prayed the court to retain the death sentence.‘govt has failed to resolve masses’ problems’: PPP provincial president Humayun Khan said on Tuesday the government had failed to solve the problems being faced by the people.He was talking to reporters after presiding over the joint meeting of the People’s Students Federation and People’s Youth Organisation.Humayun Khan said the government obtained huge loans from other countries, but it could not revive the economy.The PPP leader asked the government to revise its economic policies, decrease imports and increase exports besides introducing industrial reforms. He said the agriculture sector was on the verge of collapse.Humayun Khan said the export had increased during the PPP government but the incumbent setup gifted the people with the price hike and snatched jobs from millions of people. The selected prime minister deprived the people of their rights, he added. The PPP leader said the farmers were being exploited. He said the government employees were protesting for their rights. Earlier, he directed the PSF and PYO presidents to reorganise their organisations and present its report to the party’s secretariat.

from The News International - Peshawar http://bit.ly/2BbZisP