The Supreme Court today dismissed an appeal made by the killer of Shahzeb Khan, whose murder had triggered outrage across Pakistan, against his trial under the stringent anti-terrorism law.
Shahrukh Jatoi, the son of a feudal, was convicted by an anti-terrorism court in Karachi and given the death sentence for the cold blooded murder of student Shahzeb Khan in December last year.
The Karachi registry of the Supreme Court rejected an appeal filed by Jatoi challenging his trial under the anti-terrorism law.
"The Supreme Court has said that the decision of the High Court to run the case under the anti-terrorism law was correct and the conviction stays," said Shaukat Hussain, the lawyer for Jatoi.
The murder sparked outrage across Pakistan and the case attracted a lot of media attention. The Supreme Court took suo motu notice and ordered a fast track trial. The Sindh High Court subsequently ruled that the trial should be conducted by an anti-terrorism court.
The trial was seen as a test case by the media and civil rights campaigners for Pakistan's justice system as feudals are often accused of using their power and money to trample over the laws of the land.
The anti-terrorism court had also awarded capital punishment to another suspect, Siraj Talpur, for his role in the crime while two others, Sajjad Ali Talpur and Ghulam Murtaza Lashari, were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Twenty-year-old Shahzeb Khan was gunned down on the night of December 24, 2012 when he was returning home with his sister after attending a wedding.
Khan, the son of a DSP, was murdered after he had an altercation with one of the suspects' servants, who had verbally threatened the victim's sister.
The case attracted lot of attention more recently when the media reported that Khan's parents had agreed to forgive Jatoi after "blood money" was paid to them under Islamic laws.
But the Supreme Court took suo motu notice of this development and started proceedings on whether Islamic laws are being misinterpreted and misused in murder cases.
