ISLAMABAD: A federal capital's anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Friday handed down multiple life sentences to Adil Raja, Haider Mehdi, Wajahat Saeed, Sabir Shakir and Moeed Pirzada for "committing digital terrorism" in a case related to the May 9, 2023 riots.
The verdict, announced by ATC Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra, relates to a case registered at the Aabpara Police Station against Syed Akbar Hussain and journalists Shakir and Pirzada.
Whereas Mehdi, Saeed and Shaheen Sehbai were sentenced in a case lodged at the Ramna Police Station.
Apart from the life sentences, the court also handed down a total of 35 years' imprisonment under other provisions and imposed a fine of Rs1.5 million.
During the case hearing, Raja Naveed Hussain Kiani appeared on behalf of the prosecution, whereas the convicts were represented by Advocate Gulfam Goraya — who was appointed by the court as the defence counsel.
During the case, the prosecution presented a total of 24 witnesses before the court, which completed the trial in absentia upon the former's request.
The ATC judgment comes days after the federal cabinet declared Raja, a former Pakistan Army major, a proscribed person under Section 11[EE] of the ATA 1997.
Raja, who is based in the United Kingdom, was among the two retired Pakistan Army officers convicted and sentenced under the Army Act for violations of the provisions of the Official Secrets Act in 2023.
Along with him, Captain (retd) Haider Raza Mehdi was also sentenced for the same offence via Field General Court Martial in November 2023.
Meanwhile, the journalists sentenced in the ATC verdict today, namely Shakir, Pirzada, Saeed and Sehbai, are also currently abroad.
In the separate 22 and 23-page verdicts for cases registered at the Aabpara and Ramna police stations, respectively, the court said the convicts faced allegations of public incitement via their vlogs and social media posts.
"The accused incited the public against the government and the Pakistan Army officers," said the court, while highlighting that they neither took part in the investigation nor appeared before the court during the trial.
The accused were not even found at their residence, after which they were declared proclaimed offenders.
Noting that they were educated and social media activists, the court said that even the UK law allowed the trial in absentia.
"There's no evidence of editing the footage [related to May 9 riots]," the court said, saying that the accused incited the public to come out and protest on May 9, 2023 — which saw multiple military and government installations being vandalised by mobs following the arrest of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan in a graft case.
The verdict further points out that journalist Shakir "sent a message to the protesters, demanding that a political figure be brought to court".
The journalist, the court added, also accused the military officer of killing a political leader, thousands of people and kidnapping girls.
Meanwhile, Pirzada incited the public to attack government and military buildings and added that securing the release of a political leader was not possible without protests and further accused the military offices of being influenced by the blackmailing of certain politicians.
On Raja, the judgment said that he alleged that the courts and the army were blackmailed.
Whereas Saeed, as per the court, "promoted terrorism and civil disobedience among the public", and hinted at an attack on government institutions via a post on X.
"According to evidence, the accused conspired to incite the public in the incidents of May 9 and 10," reads the verdict.
"Not only the public but also government officers were incited in vlogs and tweets. Video evidence is sufficient to convict the accused," the court concluded.
