Extortionist's death sentence upheld in murder case.

KARACHI -- The Sindh High Court on Wednesday upheld the death sentence awarded to a man by the trial court and set aside the life sentence of two others in the case pertaining to murder of a factory manager over non-payment of protection money.

An antiterrorism court had handed down death sentence to Abdul Rehman in November last year for killing Saleemuddin in January 2017 in a factory in Gabol Town when he refused to pay protection money.

The trial court had also awarded life imprisonment to co-accused Anwar, alias Anwar Baloch, and Ahmed Hasan for abetting and assisting the main convict. Additionally, the ATC had handed down 14 years term to Hasan for carrying an unlicensed weapon.

The convicts filed appeals against the trial court order before the SHC and after hearing both sides and examining the record and proceedings, the two-judge bench headed by Justice K.K. Agha dismissed the appeal of Rehman and upheld the death penalty but overturned the life terms of other two appellants. However the court maintained the 14-year imprisonment of Hasan in the illicit weapon case.

The bench in its order observed that there was a confessional statement of Abdul Rehman and the footage of the closed-circuit television camera installed at the industrial unit in which the appellant was firing upon the deceased while the mother of Abdul Rehman also identified him in the CCTV footage.

It further said that the motive behind the killing was also established as the deceased had refused to pay protection money and the offence was intended to send a signal to the business community that if protection money was not paid they would meet the same fate.

The bench ruled that the case stood...

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