LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court in Sargodha has issued a death sentence to a former security guard who last year shot and killed his bank’s manager after accusing him of blasphemy.
Ahmad Nawaz has the right to appeal. The ruling also sentenced him to two years in prison for assaulting police during his arrest, according to prosecution lawyer Mian Rizwan.
Nawaz was arrested in November after opening fire on Malik Imran Hanif in the Khushab district. He briefly drew the attention of clerics when he claimed he killed Hanif for “insulting the prophet”.
Hanif’s family at the time denied the allegation. Later, police concluded that Nawaz had a personal feud with the bank manager.
At the time, Khushab District Police Officer (DPO) retired Capt. Tariq Wilayat had told reporters that the security guard and the manager had been quarrelling for some time. Nawaz was fired a few months before the incident but was subsequently rehired when he again had an argument with Hanif days before he killed him.
The court found Nawaz guilty under Sections 302 (Punishment of qatl-i-amd) and 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of the Pakistan Penal Code as well as Section 7 (Punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.
Additionally, it handed the convict two years of additional punishment, besides imposing two fines of Rs500,000 and Rs100,000, respectively.
