Pakistan: Man gets death penalty for abducting, killing lawyer in 2020

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Sept 29, 2026 awarded death sentence to an accused on two counts in the case of a 70-year-old lawyer’s kidnapping for ransom and murder.

Awais Ali Hashmi was found guilty of kidnapping Syed Farhat Ali Askari and later murdering him over the non-payment of Rs40 million as ransom in 2020. The court, however, acquitted accused Muhammad Faizan Ali, Saeed Ahmed and Iftikhar Ahmed Khatri by extending them the benefit of the doubt.

The ATC-I judge observed that the prosecution successfully proved the charge against Hashmi in all aspects, and that his actions definitely created panic and fear in the minds of the general public as well as the locality and the legal fraternity.

“Before convicting the accused, I would like to observe that the act of the accused, whereby he kidnapped Syed Farhat Ali Askari, demanded a ransom amount of Rs40 million from his wife for releasing her husband, and due to the non-fulfillment of the demand committed murder of Syed Farhat Ali Askari, who was a practising advocate, and threw his dead body in a dirty/polluted nala (drain) in such a brutal manner, squarely falls within the definition of terrorism as defined under Section 6 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.”

The judge said that Hashmi had committed the murder in a ruthless, cruel and brutal manner, and thus is not entitled to any leniency. He said Hashmi would be hanged by the neck until he is dead.

He pointed out that the death sentence is subject to confirmation by the Sindh High Court (SHC). 

He also ordered Hashmi to pay a Rs200,000 fine, along with Rs300,000 as compensation to the legal heirs of the deceased.

On December 20, 2023, the ATC had convicted all the accused and sentenced them to death. However, the SHC, while hearing the appeals of the accused, had remanded the case back to the trial court for recording the statement of Hashmi and Ali afresh.

According to the prosecution, Askari had gone missing on May 19, 2020, after he had left home in Shadman Town to meet a client in Gulshan-e-Maymar. His family received a call from the kidnappers, who demanded Rs40 million as ransom for his release. Hashmi killed him after his family failed to fulfil their demand.

During interrogation, Hashmi had admitted to his involvement in the crime, and disclosed that he, with the help of Ali, Ahmed and Khatri, had abducted Askari, demanded a ransom and strangled him to death, then dumped his body packed in a brown suitcase in a drain in Surjani Town’s Taiser Town. The body was recovered with Hashmi’s help.