Salman Taseer murder: IHC upholds death sentence of Mumtaz Qadri

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court on Monday upheld the death sentence awarded to Mumtaz Qadri under section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code in the murder case of Governor Punjab Salman Taseer.

The IHC declared the death sentence awarded to Qadri under the anti-terrorism act as unlawful stating that Salman Taseer’s murder was not a terrorist act.
Mumtaz Qadri had been awarded the death sentence twice by an anti-terrorism court on 1 October, 2011.

The decision on Qadri’s appeal had been earlier reserved in the case and was announced by a two-member bench comprising Justice Noor-ul-Haq Qureshi and Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui today (Monday).

Qadri a bodyguard of Salman Taseer was sentenced for the governor’s murder outside a restaurant in Islamabad in 2011.

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