Zainab murder case: LHC dismisses appeal for public hanging of Imran Ali

LAHORE - Lahore High Court (LHC) dismissed on Tuesday an appeal of Amin Ansari, the father of six-year-old Zainab Amin,  demanding a public hanging of his daughter's rapist and murderer, Imran Ali.

A two-member bench of LHC comprising Justice Sardar Shamim Ahmed and Justice Shehbaz Rizvi heard the appeal of Amin Ansari, who asked the court to publicly hang Imran Ali, whose death sentence is scheduled on Oct 17.

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During the hearing, Amin Ansari's lawyer argued that Ali can be executed in public under Section 22 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. The bench responded that only the government has the authority to order a public execution under Section 22.

"You have come here so late. The date of the hanging has been fixed for tomorrow [Oct 17]," said Justice Shamim.

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Ishtiaq urged the court to "allow a live telecast of the hanging inside the jail". He said that his client was ready to bear the expenses if the court were to allow them to take a camera inside the jail.

The court dismissed Amin's appeal.

The case

Imran Ali, a resident of Kasur, was accused of being involved in at least nine incidents of rape and murder of minors, including Zainab's, which he had confessed to during her murder investigation.

Seven-year-old Zainab was kidnapped from near her aunt’s house in Kasur on January 4 and was found dead in a garbage heap five days later.

On January 23, the authorities claimed to have nabbed Imran, a serial killer involved in other such crimes, through a DNA match.

On February 17, the anti-terrorism court (ATC) hearing the high-profile case sentenced Imran to death four times.

In total, Ali has been sentenced to 21 counts of death, three life sentences and a cumulative 23 years in jail.

Ali was found guilty under sections 364-A (kidnapping or abducting a person under the age of fourteen), 376 (3) (rape of minor), 302-B (punishment for qatl-i-amd) of the Pakistan Penal Code and section 7(a) (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti-terrorism Act, 1997.

He was also fined Rs6 million (Rs2m per victim) and ordered to pay Rs3m (Rs1m per victim) as compensation to the victims’ families.