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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (43209)	8/31/2002 7:48:10 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

The news reporting--A Dera Ghazi Khan Anti-Terrorism Court in the wee hours of Sunday convicted six people to death with a fine of Rs 40,000 for each in Mukhtiar Mai gang-rape case. Remaining eight accused were acquitted in the trial. The victim of the June 22 crime, Mukhtiar Mai, 30, was not present when the court announced the decision amid tight security and crowds of people, onlookers and journalists representing local and foreign media. The six people who were given death penalty in the Meerwala rape case were the main rapists Allah Ditta Mastoi, his younger brother Abdul Khaliq Mastoi, Fayyaz Hussain, Ghulam Farid, a Jurist (Panch) Ramzan and the Head of the Jury (Sir Panch) Faiz Bukhsh Mastoi, who also happens to be an elder of the Mastoi Tribe of the area. Those who were acquitted are Muhammad Aslam, Qasim, Ghulam Hussain, Hazoor Bukhsh, Rasool Bukhsh, Khalil, Nazar Hussain and Allah Ditta. The Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Zulfiqar Ali Malik reached the court to announce the decision at about 11:50 pm, while the accused had been brought at the premises from Dera Ghazi Khan Central Jail at about 11:30 pm. As soon as the judgment was delivered at 12:10 am early Sunday, the convicts were dispatched back to the DG Khan Central Jail by the authorities. Talking to journalists, Mukhtiar Mai said that members of her family had been threatened with death if the men were convicted. She said at her guarded home early Saturday she hoped for death sentences. But Mai's brother, Hazoor Baksh, said his family was living in fear. Mai said she had received repeated threats from the Mastoi clan. "They are threatening that if their people are hanged, then they will kill two of (my clan's) tribesmen for each man hanged." Mukhtiar Mai, a 30-year-old divorcee, was allegedly raped for more than an hour in a hut in Meerwala in order to atone for her younger brother's alleged affair with a sister of one of the accused rapists. "Mastoi tribesmen are revengeful and they are threatening us. We are not afraid of dying, even if we die, even if they kill us, we will have the satisfaction before Almighty Allah (God) that we succeeded in raising our voice against barbarism," chief prosecution witness Abdul Razak said. "We do not expect that the court will let us down. We expect the court to do justice in the name of God. God has given poor people like us the power to to stand up and we are sure -- God willing -- that he will give the same strength to the judge and deliver justice." "Police are all around us, they say they will protect us, but we don't know what will happen. "We don't want to live the rest of our lives under police escort. But we are praying to God that those who committed wrong against us get the punishment they deserve," he said. Police commandos early Saturday had sealed off the anti-terrorism court, in what was expected to be the last day of the trial of 14 men charged in relation to the gang-rape allegedly sanctioned by a tribal council (Panchayat). Crowds of curious onlookers, journalists and squads of police remained gathered outside a special court here Saturday in anticipation of a verdict in the gang-rape case. Journalists and other observers had arrived at the court early Saturday morning, but the judge appeared late in the night. "This delay is strange... Normally such delays are not witnessed," defence lawyer Yasir Khosa earlier told journalists outside the court. Some 20 black-clad commandos of Elite Force ringed the court-house and DG Khan and Muzaffargarh police erected the barricades, as dozens of onlookers and villagers from Meerwala, the home of the alleged victim Mukhtiar Mai and rapists, gathered in front. Dera Ghazi Khan police chief Asif Hayat said the security measures were 'part of a high alert because of the overall threat perception' across Pakistan, which has been gripped by a wave of deadly attacks on Christians and Westerners by the Muslim militants. Prosecutors were demanding the death penalty for all 14 accused, including the four men charged with raping Mukhtiar Mai and 10 members of the informal village council charged with abetting the June 22 gang-rape. The alleged attackers belonged to the Mastoi clan The accused have denied the charges. One of them, Abdul Khaliq, told the court during the four-week trial that he had undergone a formal marriage ceremony to Mai hours before the alleged attack, claiming that she was technically his wife. Mai has denied any marriage ceremony took place. Defence lawyer Khosa said an appeal would be launched as his clients were not cleared. The trial began July 26 after the Supreme Court of Pakistan, describing the attack "the most heinous crime in 21st century Pakistan," ordered an anti-terrorism court to hear the case.