LHC acquits Khadija Siddiqi’s attacker

By
Abdullah Niazi
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3
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–‘Shattered and shocked’ legal team vows to take matter to Supreme Court

 

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Monday acquitted the attacker of Khadijja Siddiqi, Shah Hussain, who had stabbed Siddiqi 23 times in broad daylight back in May 2016.

Hussain, who had been sentenced to five years in jail by a session court on charges of stabbing Khadija Siddiqi, was set free by the LHC which had earlier reserved their decision on the case.

The LHC, last Friday, had decided to hear the appeal filed by convict Shah Hussain asking for the suspension of his five-year imprisonment in order to be released on bail and serve the remaining sentence out of jail. The appeal was being heard by Justice Sardar Naeem Ahmad. Before this, the session court where the case had first been taken had cut the already reduced sentence from seven years to five years.

Meanwhile, the legal team of Khadija Siddiqi led by Hassan Niazi have confirmed to Pakistan Today that they will take the matter to the Supreme Court, vowing that they would not rest until justice would be done.

“This decision was shattering for us. We are shell-shocked. We had prepared for a number of scenarios but at no point did we expect such an unreasonable ruling, and that too from the High Court” said Hassan Niazi speaking to Pakistan Today.

“Even the convict’s side had not asked for such an acquittal because he has been proven guilty of stabbing her, and the only ‘evidence’ they presented was attacking Khadija’s character.”

“We had gone to the High Court hoping for an increased punishment. The maximum sentence for the crime is 10 years and we wanted the court to give us this, but instead they have gone a completely different direction” he added.

“We will not let this stop us, however, the conversation that Khadija has initiated is important and we will now go to the Supreme Court. We are trying for a Suo Motto otherwise we will take the matter to appeal.”

“All of us that have worked with Khadija in the past couple of years are young lawyers. This was greatly disheartening for us and we were all very disappointed, but the overwhelming support we have received since then has made us realise there is a lot more to fight for” said Hassan Niazi.

Earlier, while commenting on the issue on Twitter, the lawyer had said “It was Khadija’s battle till yesterday. Khadija you did your job well. Today you didn’t lose – it was society that lost. So it is battle of the society now.”

“The precedent the court has set is that men can attack women, that the system is on the side of the powerful,” he said to Pakistan Today.

“We all saw that the Punjab Governor tried to negotiate the case, and so did the courts, but we fought on for months and months, and now these people with their connections have managed an acquittal in six months while the common man cannot even have his case heard for months in the High Court.

Lawyer and activist Jibran Nasir also commented on the proceeding saying “Attacker of Khadija Siddiqi who stabbed her 24 times has been acquitted by Lahore High Court. Is this what our justice system has come down to. First under CJP Nisar’s general order security was withdrawn from her and now her attacker has been set free. Shame.”

Other lawyers also spoke up, with attorney Mona Hasan quoting Khadija as saying after the LHC’s verdict that “Fighters don’t give up.”

Khadija Siddiqi’s legal team seems set to take the case further up in the hierarchy and are already preparing a case to be taken to the Supreme Court.

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