RAWALPINDI – An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC), hearing the Salmaan Taseer assassination case, on Monday indicted self-confessed assassin Mumtaz Qadri on charges of terrorism and murder. ATC Judge Raja Ikhlaq Ahmad read out the charges to Qadri during an in-camera hearing of the case at the local Adiala Jail.
Talking to reporters after the hearing, Qadri’s lawyer Shuja Rehman said in his statement after indictment, his client confessed to killing Taseer, but pleaded not guilty as Taseer was a blasphemer who “deserved death under the holy Quran and Sunnah”.
AFP quoted another of Qadri’s lawyers, Malik Muhammad Rafiq Khan, as saying, “The judge examined the record and said that apparently the accused committed murder and terrorism.”
Another defence lawyer, Tariq Dhamial, told AFP, “He did not reply to court’s query, ‘are you guilty or not?’. He said he had not murdered anybody intentionally and had taught a lesson to an apostate.” The court summoned all 49 prosecution witnesses to record their statements on next the hearing on February 26.
A handful of students brought Valentine’s cards and flowers to the prison where the hearing was held, handing them over to jail officials who said they would be delivered to Qadri. They shouted, “We love Qadri because he loves the holy Prophet (PBUH).”
