An anti-terrorism court convicted four members of an...

An anti-terrorism court convicted four members of an outlawed Islamic militant group of orchestrating a truck bombing outside the U.S. Consulate in Karachi in 2002 that killed 12 Pakistanis. The court sentenced Mohammed Imran and Mohammed Hanif to death by hanging. Mohammed Sharib and Mufti Zubair were sentenced to life in prison, while a fifth defendant, Mohammed Ashraf, was acquitted. The June 14 bombing, which also wounded 43 people, was one of several aimed at foreigners and Pakistan's small Christian minority. It was believed to be retaliation for the government's alliance with the United States in the war against the al-Qaida terrorist network and Afghanistan's Taliban regime. The men, believed to be members of the militant group Harkat-ul-Mujahedeen al-Almi, were defiant. Imran and Hanif made the V-for-victory sign with their hands and passed out sweets to their lawyers, who promised to appeal. "I am satisfied," Imran said. "This death sentence is a blessing for me, although our deaths have been planned by the government to please America.'' Hanif's lawyer, Abdul Waheed Katpar, said his client's harsh sentence was unfair. "The verdict itself is contradictory. If there was evidence against one, there was evidence against all, yet my client got the death penalty while others got life and one man was acquitted,'' he told The Associated Press.