Asma Nawab released from prison after acquittal in triple murder case

KARACHI: Asma Nawab, who was acquitted by the Supreme Court in a murder case of her parents and brother after nearly two decades, was released from prison on Thursday.

In 1998, Asma was alleged to have orchestrated the murder of her family members over a love marriage. After almost 20 years in prison, she and two others were acquitted by the apex court earlier this week.

She was released from the women’s prison in Karachi earlier today after the prison received a written order from the Supreme Court.

“I am very happy that I am leaving the prison. The jail staff really cooperated with me,” Asma said upon her release.

Asma, Muhammad Farhan Khan and Javed Ahmed Siddiqui had appealed against their death sentences in the Supreme Court. On April 2, the court accepted their appeals, nullified their sentences and ordered their immediate release after it ruled that there was no concrete evidence found against the suspects, and the evidence presented before the court had several loopholes.

In 1999, the sessions court had ordered double death sentences for the three suspects. The Sindh High Court had rejected their appeal against the death sentence in 2015 and the appeal against that order was eventually taken up by the Supreme Court.

Asma was the only woman facing a death sentence in Sindh province.