ISLAMABAD - The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Thursday turned down the petition of the arrested suspects Moazzam Ali and Mohsin Ali seeking deletion of sections of Anti-Terrorism Act against them in the MQM leader Dr Imran Farooq murder case.
A single bench of IHC comprising Justice Athar Minallah announced the judgment which he had reserved earlier after hearing the arguments of both sides.
In his verdict, Justice Athar ordered to maintain the seven sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act in the murder case.
In the plea moved by the accused through their counsel Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, they had prayed to the court to expunge the said sections. He had argued that Dr Imran Farooq’s murder occurred in London and it did not fuel any terrorism in Pakistan.
The public prosecutor had opposed him and said that the arrested suspects are trained terrorists and as per the report of Joint Investigation Team (JIT), Imran Farooq was murdered on the direction of MQM founder Altaf Hussain.
After hearing the arguments, Justice Athar Minallah had reserved the decision which he announced on Thursday by dismissing their petitions.
Special Anti-Terrorism Court will conduct an important hearing of MQM leader Dr Imran Farooq murder case during the current week.
Currently, three men, including Moazzam Ali Khan, Khalid Shamim and Syed Mohsin Ali, accused of involvement in the murder of MQM leader Dr Imran Farooq are facing their trial before the court.
Two of them, including Khalid Shamim and Syed Mohsin, have given sworn testimony that the party leader Mohammad Anwar issued a direct order to murder Imran Farooq, a senior party figure, in London in 2010.
Shamim said that the pair had received orders from MQM leader Altaf Hussein and Anwar, the second most powerful figure in the party.
Three men have been arrested for killing Farooq but only two accused opted to make confessional statements at the court hearing while Moazzam Ali refrained.
Moazzam Ali Khan, Khalid Shamim and Syed Mohsin Ali were arrested last year. They are accused of conspiring with MQM leader Altaf Hussain and his aides Muhammad Anwar, Iftikhar Hussain, Kashif Khan Kamran in the murder of their party colleague Dr Farooq who was stabbed and bludgeoned to death near his apartment in London’s Green Lanes in September 2010.
The counter-terrorism wing of the law enforcement agency has registered a case against Syed Mohsin Ali, Moazzam Ali and Khalid Shamim.
The FIA's counter-terrorism wing has registered the case for “conspiracy, assistance, abetment and ultimately the assassination and murder of Dr Imran Farooq in September 2010.
The case has been registered under sections 302, 34, 109, 120B of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act. If convicted the men could face the death penalty.