Three get life term in Imran Farooq murder case Perpetual arrest warrants for MQM founder, three others issued

ISLAMABAD : An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Thursday sentenced three convicts to life imprisonment in MQM leader Imran Farooq murder case. The court also issued perpetual arrest warrants for MQM founder Altaf Hussain, Iftikhar Hussain, Muhammad Anwar and Kashif Kamran. ATC Judge Shahrukh Arjumand read the judgment as the accused appeared before the court through a video link. The three convicts Khalid Shamim, Mohsin Ali and Mauzzam Ali have been languishing in Adiala jail since they were arrested. The court also fined convicts Moazzam Ali, Khalid Shamim and Mohsin Ali Rs1 million each. The judgment was reserved on May 21 after the completion of the trial. During the hearings, 29 witnesses recorded their statements in the case. In February last, a team of Scotland Yard officers had also arrived in Islamabad for a week to facilitate the trial taking place in both London and Pakistan after the UK and Pakistan decided to cooperate and the UK sent the entire murder case file to Pakistan for the trial. Last year, Pakistan’s lawyer in the UK for the murder case, Toby Cadman, said Britain handed “compelling evidence” to Islamabad. The MQM leader’s wife, Shumaila Farooq, was also interviewed from London during the lengthy trial. She read out her statement on what happened on September 16, 2010, when her husband was stabbed to death outside his home in Edgware.