An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Faisalabad, while delivering its verdict in the case related to the attack on Special Assistant to Prime Minister Rana Sanaullah’s house during May 9 riots, sentenced 59 accused, including former opposition leader in the National Assembly Omar Ayub, former opposition leader in the Senate Shibli Faraz, and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s Zartaj Gul, to 10 years in prison each.
Whereas, the ATC has acquitted former federal minister Fawad Chaudhry and Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s son Zain Qureshi in the same case.
The case of the attack on Sanaullah’s house in Faisalabad on May 9, 2023, was heard in the ATC.
In addition, ex-MPA Farah Agha, ex-MNA Kanwal Shauzab, Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) Chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza, ex-MNA Sheikh Rashid Shafiq, ex-MPA Rai Murtaza Iqbal and Ismail Sila have also been sentenced to 10 years in prison each. The court has sentenced Sheikh Rashid Javed and 15 other activists to 3 years in prison each.
May 9 riots: Punjab Assembly opposition leader, PTI MNA sentenced to jail
The court convicted total 75 of the 109 defendants in the case, in their absence.
It should be recalled that on May 9, four cases were registered in Faisalabad for arson, encirclement and vandalism, out of which the verdicts in 3 were announced earlier.
The fourth case was registered at Samanabad police station for the attack and vandalism of Sanaullah’s house, in which 109 people, including the central leadership of PTI, were named.
The fresh court judgement adds to the embattled PTI’s legal and political woes that started following the May 9 violent incidents during which military installations including Rawalpindi’s General Headquarters (GHQ) were vandalised by the party supporters upon former prime minister Imran Khan’s arrest in a case on May 9, 2023.
Leaders and supporters of embattled PTI have been facing different charges in numerous cases related to the May 9 incidents, since the violent protests and clashes broke out across Pakistan.
ECP disqualifies several PTI lawmakers including Shibli Faraz, Omar Ayub, Zartaj Gul
The protests were held in remote and major cities as the party workers were agitated due to their chairman’s arrest, with Balochistan, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Islamabad summoning the armed forces to ensure law and order.
Earlier, announcing verdict in three different cases related to the May 9 riots, an ATC in Faisalabad on July 31 sentenced over 100 PTI leaders and supporters including Omar, Shibli, Zartaj and Sahibzada Hamid.
The court had announced its verdict in cases filed against 185 workers and leaders of the former ruling party. According to the judgement, 58 accused including the central leadership had been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment over terrorism charges, while 77 suspects, including some leaders, had been acquitted.
MNA Sahibzada Hamid Raza, Ayub, Gul and Faraz were sentenced to 10 years in prison each and MPA Junaid Akbar Sahi was sentenced to three years imprisonment. Whereas, the ATC had vindicated former Fawad, Khayal Ahmad Kastro and Zain, in the case pertaining to attack on Ghulam Muhammadabad police station, over “insufficient evidence”.