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The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) of Sukkur on Friday announced its reserved verdict in the high-profile case of the assassination of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader and eminent religious scholar Dr. Khalid Mahmood Soomro.
The court sentenced six individuals involved in the killing and its facilitation to life imprisonment.
On December 13, the court had reserved the verdict after completing the hearings in the case.
Dr. Soomro was the Sindh general secretary of JUI-F. After his assassination, his brother, Maulana Rashid Mehmood Soomro, was appointed to the position.
Dr. Soomro was shot dead on November 29, 2014, while leaving his seminary, located next to a mosque in Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Sukkur, after offering morning prayers. It was reported that the assailant(s) were riding motorcycles.
On Saturday, ATC Judge Abdul Rehman Qazi heard the final arguments in the case. The trial, which lasted almost a decade, was held inside the Sukkur Central Jail due to security concerns. The judge reserved the verdict after recording the statements of the plaintiff’s counsel, Athar Abbas Solangi. During earlier hearings, the defense counsel and the prosecutor had also presented their arguments.
Mr. Solangi stated that he had completed his arguments during the day’s proceedings. Defense counsel Murtaza Shah was also in attendance.
The six accused, who had been in police custody for an extended period, were produced in court.
