KARACHI - The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday overturned the death sentence of Faisal Mehmood, alias Mota, the primary accused in the Wali Khan Babar case and ordered a retrial by the lower courts.

The SHC was hearing an appeal filed by Faisal Mota, who was awarded death sentence in absentia, by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Kandhkot in 2014. Mota, said to be a worker of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), was later arrested and detained in 2015 in Karachi after Rangers conducted a raid at the MQM headquarters. The ATC in Kandhkot will now hear the case from scratch again.

On January 13, 2011, GeoNews journalist Wali Khan Babar was going home from his office when he was shot dead in Liaquatabad, Karachi.

 Shocked by the murder, journalists across the country had protested and mourned his death, demanding the arrest and trial of the culprits.

Syed Mohammad Ali Rizvi, Shahrukh alias Mani, Naveed alias Polka and Shakil alias Malik had also been indicted for the murder.