Plea dismissed

LAHORE: A Lahore High Court division bench on Wednesday dismissed appeal against sentence of a prime suspect involved in attacking a vigil to mark 5th death anniversary of Punjab’s slain governor Salman Taseer in 2015 at Liberty Chowk.

The bench comprising Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan and Justice Shehram Sarwar dismissed the appeal of Mumtaz Sindhi who was awarded a collective imprisonment of sixteen-and-a-half-year by an anti-terrorism court in 2017.

Advocate Abdullah Malik had become complainant in the case and also opposed the appeal of the convict. Dozens of baton-wielding men had attacked the participants of vigil held at Liberty Chowk to mark death anniversary of Salman Taseer on Jan 4, 2015. The attackers tore banners, pictures and posters displayed at the venue and also thrashed the activists holding the vigil. They raised slogans in favour of Mumtaz Qadri, a former police guard who assassinated then governor in Islamabad for supporting a blasphemy convict, Asia Masih. Qadri was later sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court and subsequently executed.

The trial court had convicted Sindhi and five others in the case. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 15,000 on Sindhi.