Mumtaz Qadri moves SC against sentence in Taseer murder case

ISLAMABAD: The convicted murderer of former Punjab Governor Salman Taseer has filed an appeal in the Supreme Court, challenging his death sentence in the case and asking for his punishment to be reduced.

Lawyers for Mumtaz Qadri filed the plea in the apex court on Monday, claiming that the matter is not about murder but provocation.

Qadri's lawyers say that their client's sentence should be reduced to as minimal as possible under Section 302(C) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

A bodyguard of Salman Taseer, Qadri was sentenced for the former governor’s murder outside a restaurant in Islamabad on January 4, 2011.

Qadri had admitted to the murder saying he was opposed to Salman Taseer’s calls to reform the blasphemy law.

Last month, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) dismissed Qadri’s appeal against his death sentence but accepted his appeal of ordering the removal of terrorism charges from his case, annulling the sentence under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA).

A 64-page verdict by the IHC said that “the conviction of appellant recorded by the trial court under Section 7(a) of the Anti-Terrorism Act is set aside, the appeal to this extent is allowed and appellant is acquitted from the said charge whereas conviction and sentence recorded under Section 302 (b) PPC is upheld and appeal to this extent is dismissed.”

The IHC bench said: “It is amazing to note that the appellant (Mumtaz Qadri) took protections and rights guaranteed by the Constitution but deprived deceased (Salmaan Taseer) from all constitutional guarantees.”

An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) had awarded death sentence to Mumtaz Qadri on October 01, 2011 with Rs0.2 million as fine and compensation to the legal heirs of Taseer.