A Karachi Additional District and Sessions Court on Thursday handed Atif Zaman the death penalty on two counts for the 2019 murders of television anchor Mureed Abbas and his friend Khizer Hayat.
The court also directed the convict to pay Rs500,000 in compensation to the legal heirs of each victim.
The case stems from the fatal shooting of Mureed Abbas and Khizer Hayat in Karachi’s Khayaban-e-Bukhari area on July 9, 2019. Following the incident, police arrested Atif Zaman and registered a case against him and his brother, Adil Zaman, in connection with the killings.
In its ruling, the court also issued permanent arrest warrants for Adil Zaman, who had previously been declared a proclaimed offender after failing to appear before the court.
Apart from the murder conviction, Atif Zaman was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined Rs50,000 in a separate case involving illegal possession of firearms.
The trial was initially heard by an anti-terrorism court but was transferred to a sessions court in October 2019 after the ATC ruled that the case did not fall within its jurisdiction.
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