PAKISTAN. SUPREME COURT OVERTURNS LIFE SENTENCE FOR MURDER AND IMPOSES CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

the Supreme Court of Pakistan set aside a verdict of the Peshawar High Court transforming the sentence of life imprisonment handed to Khurram for murder into the death penalty.
It was alleged that Khurram had murdered one Ejaz Ahmad on November 24, 1998 in the Mansehra district, after he had come to know that Ejaz had had a love affair with his girl friend Nazia. Khurram cut the dead body of Ejaz into pieces and threw them into a well.
District and Sessions Judge Mansehra had originally sentenced Khurram to death, but the Peshawar High Court commuted the penalty into life imprisonment ruling that witness statements had not been properly examined. The Supreme Court declared the life sentence to be inappropriate and said that the convict had changed his version of the facts. The court noted that at first the convict had declared himself innocent of the crime, however, after being sentenced to death he contended that he had committed murder out of provocation.
The District and Sessions Judge sentenced Nazia and her mother to six months imprisonment each for hiding facts relating to the murder.