The Supreme Court commuted into life imprisonment the...

The Supreme Court commuted into life imprisonment the death sentences handed down to 10 defendants convicted on charges of killing 34 people in three separate incidents of sectarian violence.
In the first case, six assailants had attacked Al-Khair mosque in Multan, in which 22 persons died and 37 were injured.
The Multan Special Anti Terrorism Court had convicted Hasan Raza, Ijaz Hussain, Malik Ijaz Hussain alias Heavy, Falak Sher alias Falki, Asad Raza alias Haider Ali Langra and Aga Mohammad Ali alias Shabbar to death on 22 counts each.
They were also ordered to pay Rs100,000 each, which, in the event of realization, was ordered to be equally distributed amongst the heirs of the deceased.
They were tried under sections 302 (murder), 324 (attempt to commit murder) and 149 (defiling a religious place). The Lahore High Court had upheld their death sentences.
The SC bench held that the prosecution had been able to establish the case beyond any doubt on the charges under sections 302 and 149. However, Justice Sheikh Riaz Ahmed, writing for the bench, decided: "We direct that instead of the death sentence, the appellants shall now suffer life imprisonment each on 22 counts, concurrently."
The court ordered that the convicts were not to be entitled to any reduction of their life-term.
In another case, the same bench converted the death sentence of Mohammad Aziz alias Aziz Gujar and Haroon Rashid alias Shahid, on charges of murdering 10 persons in Mominpura, Lahore, to life imprisonment.
In the third case, the death sentences meted out to Haroon Rashid alias Ali and Imran Ahmad, for murdering two persons in Gujranwala, were converted to life imprisonment without any remission.