Islamabad: The Lahore High Court’s (LHC) Rawalpindi bench on Monday suspended the convictions of five prisoners who were handed the death penalty for involvement in an attack on an army camp in Gujrat in Punjab province in 2012.
The order came on a petition filed by counsel of one of the convicted men.
Justice Arshad Mahmood Tabassum of the high court heard the petition filed by advocate Laiq Khan Swati, who told the court that his client Ahsan Azim was not provided with any information pertaining to the case, including the charge sheet, summary of evidence and trial proceedings, despite requests submitted earlier, Dawn online reported.
He added that his client’s family members were suddenly told to hold a last meeting with the convict as he was going to be hanged.
Ahsan Azim, hailing from Wah Cantonment in Punjab province, is currently being held at the Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore.
Kamran, Umar Nadeem, Ahsan Azim, Amir Yousuf and Asif Idrees were handed out death sentences by a military court for their involvement in the attack on an army camp in Gujrat city in 2012, which had claimed the lives of at least seven security personnel.
Earlier Friday, two former military men were executed in the Faisalabad district jail.
The hangings Friday were the first death sentences carried out after the government ended a six-year moratorium on executions last Wednesday, in response to the Tuesday’s December 16 tragedy, which left more than 140 children and teachers killed in an army-run school.
On Sunday, four more convicts were executed at a district jail in Faisalabad.
In response, Taliban groups released messages vowing revenge for the deaths of their comrades. Security has been tightened in and around jails and all major cities of the country has been put on high security alert to avoid any untoward incident.
