High court rejects serial killer's appeal, upholds death verdict

The death sentence has been upheld after an appeal was rejected for a serial killer who murdered five Pakistani taxi drivers and tried to poison three others.

The Federal High Court on Saturday referred to the Presidential Court its confirmation of the death sentence. The court rejected the appeal of Junaid Nawaz Lal Nawaz, a Pakistani, against the death sentence.

Nawaz was arrested in July 2001 for poisoning five taxi drivers in the suburbs of Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. After his arrest, he confessed to poisoning eight taxi drivers and robbing them from June 21 to July 4, 2000.

Three more victims - Mohammed Sattar Khan, Eid Mohammed Zarmat Khan and Kamaluddin Sharabuddin - survived the ordeal. Two of them later identified their attacker.

The Al Ain Court of First Instance handed down the death penalty on May 29, 2001, after the defendant was found guilty of murder.

The court also charged him with adultery and absconding from his employers. Nawaz confessed that he was jobless and absconding.

According to a summary of the court ruling, Nawaz testified in his initial hearing that he had intended to kill and rob the drivers for their money.

However, after appealing against the death sentence, he changed his testimony and told the court that he did not intend to kill the drivers, but just wanted to make them fall unconscious so that he could rob them. He appealed against the death sentence in August 2001.

His appeal was challenged by the Federal Public Prosecutor on the same day in a counter appeal. Both appeals were submitted.

The prosecutor pressed for the death sentence. This was finally confirmed on Saturday and referred to the Presidential Court for approval. After approval is granted, Nawaz will be executed.

The killer also said that he was mentally unfit to stand trial, a claim dismissed by the court, which maintained that he had intended to carry out the killings.

According to the ruling, the nature of the crime does not permit the killer to get away by paying blood money.

Nawaz used a strong pesticide diluted in soft drinks to poison his victims. After they fell unconscious, he robbed them before leaving them to die in their cars that had no ventilation in the simmering heat.

According to earlier reports, all the victims died within ten minutes after they consumed the poisoned drink. Three victims, Mulazim Hussain Ghulam, Zarmulla Khan and Gul Shameer Khan, came from Wazirstan, a tribal area in the NWFP area of Pakistan.

The other two victims, Aidaz Gul Khan and Khajir Khan Sawar Khan, holding Pakistani passports, were originally Afghan citizens who came from Khost in the southern province of Pakthia.

During Nawaz's reign of terror, many taxi drivers in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain refused to take passengers to remote areas, fearing for their lives until the murderer was caught. Some even refused to take lone passengers.

Until the arrest of the killer, some of the drivers even armed themselves with metal rods, clubs and other tools for protection.

The fears also lead to rumours that a gang of three was out to slay taxi drivers. However, Nawaz, confessed that he committed the killings without any accomplice.