Zainab’s rapist, murderer Imran Ali hanged at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail

—Imran Ali raped and murder­ed twelve other minors­

LAHORE: Imran Ali, convicted rapist and murderer of six-year-old Zainab Amin, was hanged to death in the early hours of Wednesday in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Central Jail.

Ali was executed in the presence of both Magistrate Adil Sarwar and the deceased’s father, Muhammad Amin Ansari, both of whom arrived early morning at the Kot Lakhpat Jail.

An ambulance had also arrived at the scene, accompanied by a brother of the convict as well as two of his friends.

The convict was awarded a death sentence on 21 counts after he was convicted of the rape and murder of at least eight minor girls, including Zainab, earlier this year. He was executed at the Central Jail Lahore at 5:30am.

On Tuesday, jail authorities arranged the convict’s last meeting with his family, which lasted for some 45 minutes.

Contingents of police and anti-riot forces surrounded Kot Lakhpat jail at the time of Ali’s hanging.

Talking to the media after the execution, Ansari regretted that the authorities did not allow the live telecast of the hanging.

“Zainab would have been seven years, two months old today,” he said. “Her mother is devastated from grief.”

Ansari also thanked the chief justice of Pakistan and said that the “murderer had met his fate today”.

He also spoke about the country’s constitutional institutions, saying “changes were needed in the system and those people should be recruited who make decisions made on the basis of merit”.

“Only the actual culprits should be punished and not an innocent person,” the Ansari added.

After the execution, Ali’s family — accompanied by police contingents — took his body to Kasur.

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

On January 23, authorities had claimed to have apprehended Ali — a serial killer involved in other similar crimes — through a DNA match.

Ali’s DNA also matched the samples taken from seven other minor girls who were abused and murdered earlier in Kasur, police had confirmed.

The then-suspect had confessed to his heinous crimes following his arrest.

On February 17, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) hearing the case of Zainab’s rape and murder had sentenced Imran to death on four counts.

Appealing against the ATC’s verdict, Ali had claimed innocence before the Lahore High Court and pleaded for the verdict to be declared null and void.

On June 12, the Supreme Court’s Lahore Registry had dismissed Imran’s appeal against the death sentence handed to him for raping and murdering the minor girl.

Last week, a special ATC had issued black warrants for the convict.