Hasan Turabi assassination case transferred to ATC-III

The Administrative Judge (AJ) of the Anti-Terrorism Courts (ATC) in Karachi granted a complainant’s application for transferring Pakistan Islami Tehrik and Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal leader Allama Hasan Turabi’s assassination case from the ATC-II to the ATC-III for trial.

Mohammad Amin alias Khalid Shaheen, Sultan Mehmood alias Saifullah, Mohammad Rehman alias Mani, Ashfaq Qureshi, Mohammad Akbar Khan and Raheemullah are facing trial for allegedly killing Hasan Turabi in a suicide attack.

Turabi, along with his nephew Imran Ali, were killed in a suicide bomb blast in the limits of the Sachchal police station Karachi on July 14, 2006. According to the prosecution, the alleged suicide bomber, later identified as Abdul Karim, had blown himself up with explosive material when Turabi reached his house after attending a rally against Israeli aggression on Palestine and Lebanon. Three policemen, Azhar Hussain, Fakhar Hussain, and Mohammad Rashid, and a woman, Noreen, were injured in the blast.

The Complainant of the case, Shafat Hussain, filed an application before the AJ of the ATCs, Justice Maqbool Baqar, accusing the presiding officer of the case of favoring the defendants. The applicant’s counsel, Syed Tasawar Hussain Rizvi, submitted that the prosecution witnesses were treated harshly by the presiding officer of the court, and that the complainant had no confidence on the trial court due to the conduct of the presiding officer. He sought the transfer of the case to any other ATC “in the interest of justice”.

ATC Judge Abdul Ghafoor Memon denied the allegation in his comments, and submitted that trial was transferred from the ATC-III in November 2008 and the case could not proceed due to the want of defense counsel for one of the accused, Raheemullah. The presiding officer submitted that his attitude towards the prosecution witnesses was not harsh. He submitted that the court examined 23 witnesses but only a third of them were examined by the complainant counsel, adding that this case was given preference while the prosecution wanted to adopt its own procedure.

The ATC judge submitted that adjournment dates were given at convenience of both sides.

AJ Justice Maqbool Baqar, after taking the comments on the record, transferred the case to ATC-III. On the other hand, the defendants counsel also filed an application in the Sindh High Court (SHC), seeking open trial of the Allama Hasan Turabi assassination case instead of jail trial. The defendants counsel Abdul Waheed Katpar submitted that the trial against the defendants was pending for the past three years and only 10 prosecution witnesses, out of 57, had been examined thus far by the trial court.

He said that trial against the defendants seems to be held in-camera as no defendant’s relatives are allowed to observe the proceedings. Prosecution witnesses are also facing hardships due to the inside-prison trial, he said, adding that the open trial of the defendants was their right as guaranteed under the criminal procedure code. He requested the court to issue directions for an open trial against the defendants in the ATC instead of trial inside the prison.