FAISALABAD
\nA Faisalabad anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Monday sentenced 59 PTI leaders and supporters to 10 years of imprisonment and acquitted 34 others in the case of an attack on former interior minister Rana Sanaullah\u2019s house during the May 9, 2023 riots.
\nOn May 9, 2023, military installations and state-owned buildings were vandalised as PTI supporters protested the arrest of ex-premier Imran Khan, who was released later but has been imprisoned in various cases since August 2023. Following the riots, thousands of protesters, including the party\u2019s top leadership, were arrested. Judge Javed Iqbal Sheikh presided over today\u2019s hearing of the case registered at the Samanabad police on May 9, 2023.
\nPTI legal team head Malik Khalid Shafiq confirmed today\u2019s court decision to Dawn.com. He said that out of the total 109 accused, 59 were handed 10 years\u2019 rigorous imprisonment and 16 were given three years\u2019 jail time. PTI leaders Zartaj Gul, Shibli Faraz, Omar Ayub, Sheikh Rashid Shafique (nephew of former interior minister Sheikh Rasheed), Ashraf Khan Sohna, Rai Hassan Nawaz, Rai Murtaza Iqbal were among those convicted.
\nFormer information minister Fawad Chaudhry, who quit PTI in the wake of the May 9 incidents, and Zain Qureshi (son of PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi) were among those freed of the charges. PTI parliamentarians convicted would face automatic disqualification under Article 63(1)(g) of the Constitution, which bars members convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude or corrupt practices.
\nThe deadline given to ATCs to decide various May 9 cases had already passed earlier this month. Therefore, day-to-day hearings were being held in the case, according to Shafiq. Last week, the Kasur Crime Control Department (CCD) presented former Faisalabad Civil Lines station house officer Zeeshan Khalid Randhawa as a witness during the trial. The former SHO was already under arrest in a separate kidnap and murder case of a Kasur resident.
\nA joint investigation team probing the case had been summoned by an ATC in July 2024 to submit the charge sheet. Today\u2019s convictions are the latest in a slew of ATC sentences, wherein over 100 PTI leaders and workers have been handed lengthy jail terms.
\nOn July 22, a Lahore ATC had handed Yasmin Rashid, Omar Sarfraz Cheema, Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed and other PTI leaders 10 years of rigorous imprisonment in a case related to vandalism at Sherpao Bridge. However, incarcerated Shah Mahmood Qureshi and five others were acquitted.
\nThe same day, a Sargodha ATC had sentenced as many as 32 accused, including then-Punjab Assembly opposition leader Malik Ahmed Khan Bhachar, in a case registered at the Musakhel police station.
\nOn July 31, a Faisalabad ATC had senten\u00adced over 100 PTI leaders and workers to up to 10 years\u2019 imprisonment in connection with the riots. Omar Ayub, Shibli Faraz, Zartaj Gul and Sunni Ittehad Council chief Hamid Raza were among key opposition leaders handed 10 years\u2019 jail time.
\nIn one case, 60 out of 67 accused were convicted, while seven were acquitted. In another case, 107 out of 108 accused were sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment, while one person received a three-year sentence and 77 were acquitted.
\nOn August 1, a Sargodha ATC sentenced PTI worker Muham\u00admad Ismail to rigorous life imprisonment in May 9 cases related to an attack on the judicial complex in Mianwali and declared 50 others as proclaimed offenders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FAISALABAD A Faisalabad anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Monday sentenced 59 PTI leaders and supporters to 10 years of imprisonment and acquitted 34 others in the case of an attack on former interior minister Rana Sanaullah\u2019s house during the May 9, 2023 riots. On May 9, 2023, military installations and state-owned buildings were vandalised as PTI […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498951,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-498930","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n