LAHORE - Zahid Mehmood, a prisoner on death row, is scheduled to be hanged on Thursday (today) at 6:30 am in Central Jail Kot Lakhpat, said a senior jail authority while talking to this reporter on Wednesday.
The official said that Zahid Mehmood, resident of Multan, was imprisoned in 1998 after killing three policemen on a picket when they signalled him to stop. He was, later on, awarded death sentence by court but due to the ban on capital punishment he was yet to be hanged.
Tight security measures have been taken inside and around the jail. On Wednesday, jail authorities had arranged his last meeting arranged with his family.
Appeal against death sentence dismissed
A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Wednesday dismissed appeal of a convict awarded death sentence on 20 counts for attacking Defense Ministry Bus in Rawalpindi in which at least 25 people lost their lives and 66 others got severe injuries.
The bench headed by Justice Abdul Sami Khan and comprising Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan heard the case. As the proceedings commenced, convict Umar Adeel Khan through his counsel pleaded that he did not commit the crime rather he was implicated in it.
He said the investigation agencies leveled allegation against him that he provided logistic support to suicide bomber namely Shakeel Pathan to reach on the spot but it was not so. He said neither the prosecution could prove him guilty by providing any solid argument nor any other person saw him committing this crime.
The appellant said that police arrested him one year after the incident took place. He said the trial court had convicted him erroneously. He prayed the court to set aside his conviction and set him free.
A prosecutor told the bench that policemen saw him committing this crime and driving a car to the spot.
After hearing both sides, the division bench dismissed the appeal filed by convict Umar Adeel and upheld the decision of the trial court wherein it had awarded death sentence to the convict on 20 counts.
Umar Adeel, the convict, who is on death row at Adiala Jail for attacking on the bus on September 4, 2007 that killed at least 25 people and injured 66 others. He was arrested in 2008.