LAHORE: The two men sentenced to death for gang-raping a woman on the side of a motorway in September challenged their convictions in the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday.
The men — Abid Malhi and Shafqat Ali — were convicted of gang rape, kidnapping, robbery and terrorism offences, according to a written order released by anti-terrorism judge Arshad Hussain Bhutta in Lahore.
The petitions requested the court to set aside the verdict and order their release.
On September 9, the victim was driving with her two children late at night on the Lahore-Sialkot motorway (M-11) within the limits of the Gujjarpura police station when her vehicle ran out of fuel.
She phoned the police for help, but before they arrived two men took her and her children out of the vehicle at gunpoint and raped her. They also stole her purse, which contained Rs100,000 in cash, a bracelet, the car registration papers, and three ATM cards.
Protesters took to the streets saying the government needed to bring in legal reforms and do more to protect women and children after a series of high-profile cases.
The men were tracked down via mobile phone data and arrested days after the incident, the prosecutor said. DNA samples taken from the crime scene matched theirs. The survivor identified the two men during the hearing, and Ali confessed to the crime before a magistrate.
