Zainab’s killer gets death on five counts in rape & murder of 2 more girls

LAHORE (92 News) – The anti-terrorism court has awarded death sentence to the Zainab’s killer Imran on four counts each in two more cases in Kot Lakhpat Jail on Monday. He has been awarded death on four counts and life term in addition to Rs four million fine in the murder and rape of minor girl Emaan Fatima. In the murder and rape of another minor girl Tehmina, the convict Imran has been awarded death sentence and 53-year term. He has been fined Rs 1.5075 million. Imran has so far been convicted in six cases of rape and murder. The court has still to decide a rape and murder case of a minor girl. Zainab's rape and murder earlier this year had sparked outrage and protests across the country after the six-year-old, who went missing on January 4, was found dead in a trash heap in Kasur on January 9. Her case was the twelfth such incident to occur within a 10 kilometre radius in the city over a 12-month period. The heinous nature of the crime had seen immediate riots break out in Kasur — in which two people were killed — while #JusticeforZainab became a rallying cry for an end to violence against children. The Punjab government had declared the arrest of Ali, the prime suspect, on January 23. On June 12, the Supreme Court rejected Ali's appeal against the death sentence handed to him for the rape and murder of Zainab, noting that the petitioner had admitted committing similar offences with eight other minor victims and ‘in that backdrop, he did not deserve any sympathy in the matter of his sentences’. Imran had filed the appeal challenging the death sentence handed to him in February, claiming his trial was not fair. He still has the right to seek clemency from President Mamnoon Hussain.