Death penalty of five terrorists upheld in Pakistan

Islamabad, Dec 24: The Lahore High Court's (LHC) Rawalpindi bench Wednesday accepted the Pakistan government's appeal challenging a stay order issued against the execution of five death row convicts who were involved in an attack on a military camp near Gujarat city in Punjab province in 2012. Earlier, the LHC had decided to stay the executions. However, the court Wednesday took back its decision after terrorism charges against the convicts were proven, and maintained the sentence handed down by a military court for execution of the prisoners, Dawn online reported. The five convicts are Ihsan Azeem, Asif Idrees, Amir Yousaf, Kamran Aslam and Umar Nadeem. Last year, a military court had convicted them under the Pakistan Army Act, 1952. They are currently incarcerated at Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore.