Soldier handed death sentence in Pakistan over murder

Aug 12, 2011, 10:09 GMT

Islamabad - A Pakistani court Friday handed the death sentence to a soldier of the paramilitary Rangers and life prison terms to six other persons for killing a teenager in Karachi.

Six soldiers and a private contractor were arrested after video of the execution-style murder of Sarfaraz Shah, 19, in June was made public, causing outrage and prompting the Supreme Court to direct an anti-terror court to try them for murder.

After a two-month trial, the court issued the death sentence to Shahid Zafar for shooting the man and life sentence to five other soldiers for letting him kill the victim.

A civilian contractor who had handed over Shah to Rangers for allegedly robbing a woman in a park was also given a life sentence.

Saukat Hayat, a lawyer for the defendants, said the verdict would be appealed in a higher court. The soldiers were performing 'lawful duties' and their act enjoyed immunity under the laws for the security forces, he argued.

The father of the victim told Dunya TV, 'I am satisfied with the verdict and I hope that the appeal court will uphold the decision of the anti-terror court.'

The Rangers initially claimed that the man had opened fire on them. But their claim was undermined by a videotape of the shooting that was repeatedly shown on television.

It is one of the rare incident when soldiers involved in a murder have been sentenced.

In May, the security forces killed five foreigners, including Russian and Tajiks nationals, at a checkpoint in the south-western province of Baluchistan, but no action has yet been taken against them.