...justice in Pakistan
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iht.com
Paris, Friday, March 17, 2000
Pakistani Killer Is Sentenced To
Dismemberment and Acid
Compiled by Our Staff From Dispatches
LAHORE, Pakistan - A court here sentenced a man to death
Thursday for the murder of 100 children, and the judge ordered
that he be strangled in front of the victims' parents, cut into pieces
and the pieces thrown into acid.
The judge ordered that the man, Javed Iqbal, 42, be executed in a
park in this eastern city by suffering the same fate as his victims.
'You will be strangled to death in front of the parents whose
children you killed,' said Judge Allah Baksh Ranja in his sentence.
'Your body will then be cut into a 100 pieces and put in acid the
same way you killed the children.'
But Pakistani officials said that the sentence would probably not be
carried out.
'I'm quite sure this will be challenged in a higher court,' Interior
Minister Moinuddin Haider said in Islamabad.
'We're a signatory to international conventions on human rights
which do not allow these things,' he said.
Mr. Iqbal's lawyer said he would file an appeal with the Lahore
High Court within seven days. If the appeal is denied, the lawyer
said he would take the case to the Supreme Court. The appeals
process could last years.
During his trial, Mr. Iqbal testified that he had witnessed the
killings but was not the perpetrator. He said his earlier confession
in a letter to the police was intended as a message to the parents of
the missing children, whom he accused of neglect.
Some of Mr. Iqbal's victims had been missing for more than six
months before their parents informed the police of their
disappearance.
Three accomplices, including a 13-year-old youth identified only
as Sabir, also were found guilty.
One accomplice, identified as Sajjid, 17, was found guilty on 98
counts of murder and sentenced to death plus 686 years in prison.
The second, identified as Nadeem, 15, received a 182-year
sentence, or 14 years on each of 13 murder counts. The third
accomplice was sentenced to 42 years in prison.
Mr. Iqbal, a chemical engineer, and his accused accomplices lived
in the house where the children were killed. Two of the boys were
arrested at a bank when they tried to cash a check made out to Mr.
Iqbal.
Throughout the trial, parents of the missing children held a vigil
just outside the courtroom, screaming abuse at Mr. Iqbal and
demanding the death sentence.
Mr. Iqbal initially confessed to the killings in a letter to the police,
triggering one of the biggest manhunts ever by the Pakistani
police. Dozens of people were picked up and questioned, including
several of Mr. Iqbal's relatives.
In his letter, Mr. Iqbal said he went on his rampage in retaliation
for abuse he had suffered at the hands of the police. He claimed he
had been wrongly detained and badly beaten.
The children apparently were sexually abused before being killed.
Mr. Iqbal's letter led the police to his home, where officers found
a vat and the remains of two bodies.
On Dec. 30, Mr. Iqbal walked into the Lahore office of a
newspaper and turned himself in.
Many of the children were among the poorest in the city. |
