SHC admits appeals against Baldia factory fire verdict for hearing.

KARACHI -- The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday admitted for hearing appeals of five convicts, including two MQM workers, challenging their sentences in the Baldia factory fire case.

A divisional bench of the SHC issued a notice to the Prosecutor General (PG) and sought the complete record of the case from the Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) that handed down the September 22 verdict sentencing Zubair aka Chariya and Abdul Rehman aka Bhola to death for their role in the deaths of over 260 people in the 2012 Baldia factory fire.

Other convicts who filed the appeals were Fazal Ahmed, Hakeem and Arshad Mahmood. The appellants stated in their pleas that the ATC ignored key evidence while deciding the case. Zubair and Rehman blamed the factory owners for the fire, saying the factory doors were closed when the fire broke out on the orders of the owners.

On September 22, the ATC had convicted MQM's Bhola and Chariya on eleven counts, handing each of them death sentences on two counts, life sentences on four counts, 10-year...