Pakistani court sentences three to life for murder of politician in London

A PAKISTANI court sentenced three men to life in prison on Thursday (18) for their part in the assassination of a Pakistani political leader who was stabbed to death in London in 2010.

The conviction was hailed as "ground-breaking" by British authorities who aided the trial.

Imran Farooq, 50, was a leader of the Pakistan's Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), but had moved to London and had been inactive for about two years. He was on his way home from work in north London when he was attacked.

Farooq was found dead outside his Green Lane house in north London in September 2010, a month after another senior MQM leader, Raza Haidar, was assassinated in Karachi.

The three accused were members of the party, and the Islamabad-based anti-terrorism court ruled that MQM founder Altaf Hussain had ordered the killing of Farooq.

"The two executors were properly facilitated who went with the sole purpose to London for committing the murder and as per pre-planned conspiracy, an innocent person was brutally murdered," the judgement stated.

"The act of abettors and executors was preconceived with a design to intimidate and overawe the public in general and workers of MQM in particular so that in future no one can raise voice against Altaf Hussain, the leader of MQM.

"The motive thus for murdering Imran Farooq upon the orders of Altaf Hussain and other senior [MQM] leadership is proved because of his [Imran Farooq's] strong position and services in the party."

Besides their life sentences, the three convicts were each fined 1 million Pakistani rupees ($6,050), the prosecutor, Khawaja Mohammad Imtiaz, told reporters.

The London Metropolitan police said in a statement the conviction followed "a ground-breaking agreement between the UK and Pakistan" enabling evidence gathered by British police to be shared with Pakistani prosecutors and presented as part of the case.

Only one of the three convicted on Wednesday, Mohsin Ali Syed, was identified by the Met as having been in London to carry out the murder before fleeing the UK. A second man they identified was convicted in absentia.

Warrants had been issued for other absconders in the case, too, according to Imtiaz. The official court judgment was not immediately available to identify them.

Britain had its officers testify at the trial, according Barrister Toby Cadman, counsel to the Pakistani government.

The collaboration followed a "temporary change" to Pakistani law to provide that the death penalty would not be used in cases where evidence had been transferred from a state where capital punishment is prohibited, the Met statement said. In Pakistan, murder usually carries the death penalty.

Imtiaz said the trial was a first for Pakistan and had set a legal precedent. "There are hardly any examples in the world that an offence is committed in one country and the trial is conducted in another," he said.

Farooq was considered as one of the key figures who laid the foundation for the All Pakistan Mohajir Students' Organisation (APMSO), which eventually turned out to be a forerunner of the MQM, said the Dawn newspaper.

Farooq was among the members funding the party's activities. He was killed at a time when his name started to feature in the party's senior-most levels.

His death marked the start of cracks in the leadership of the MQM. The party, which held sway for decades in Pakistan's commercial capital, Karachi, later split into several factions -- one of which is a coalition member of the current Pakistani government.

The party represents Urdu-speaking migrants from India who settled in Pakistan after the partition of the subcontinent at the end of British rule in 1947.