ISLAMABAD: The anti-terrorism court of Islamabad, in a detailed verdict in Imran Farooq murder case, on Thursday said that the victim was murdered for nobody was allowed to speak against founder of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Altaf Hussain.

“Hence proved, Altaf Hussain issued directives for killing Imran Farooq. The order was passed on by two senior members of the MQM to Pakistan,” the court concluded in its remarks. The deceased allegedly had differences with the party chief over some issues.

The ATC said that MQM leader Muazzam Ali selected Mohsin Ali and Kashif Kamran from Nine Zero. They were fully assisted in going to London and murdering Imran Farooq, it added.

Also Read: Three culprits given life sentence in Imran Farooq murder case

“The aim of killing Imran Farooq was to spread terror among masses. The reference fulfills the definition of a terrorism case,” the court said.

It said that it was a case of capital punishment, however death sentence was averted because evidence were provided by the United Kingdom on condition of not executing.

The Islamabad court gave life sentence to three suspects while announcing the verdict in Imran Farooq Murder case.

Judge Shahrukh Arjumand was hearing the case. Concluding his remarks, the judge said that the prosecutor successfully established the case against the three suspects namely Muazaam Ali, Mohsin Ali and Khalid Shamim.

Each of the culprits were ordered to pay Rs1 million to family of the victim. The perpetrators heard the case through a video link from Adyala jail.

Imran Farooq was murdered on Sept 16, 2010 in London. Trial of the case had begun in 2015 in Islamabad. A case was registered against the suspects on Dec 5, 2015. The suspects had admitted to the crime before a magistrate in January 2016, but later they denied their involvement in the case. While, they were indicted on May 2, 2018.

The court had reserved the verdict on May 21 the following year on completion of the arguments.