Of convict in 7-yr-old's rape-murder

LAHORE: A Pakistani court has upheld the death sentence of a man convicted in the brutal rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl that shook the entire nation and sparked outrage.

In the first ever trial in the country's history that concluded in shortest period of four days, an anti-terrorism court last month sentenced to death 23-year-old Imran Ali on four grounds -- murdering a child, kidnapping a child, rape of a minor, and committing an unnatural act with a minor.

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday upheld the verdict of the anti-terrorism court that awarded death sentence to Ali.

Ali was arrested in January, two weeks after he raped and killed the 7-year-old girl and Sarwar Chaudhry dismissed Ali's appeal against his conviction after hearing arguments from the prosecution and the defence counsel. The convict's lawyer advocate Asad Jamal questioned the admissibility of the DNA findings which the trial court had relied on when handing down the sentence. He said there was a misconception that the DNA test was foolproof evidence. The court could not blindly rely on that evidence.

Ali pleaded he should be treated with leniency because by confessing to his crime he had saved court's time.

Additional Prosecutor General Abdul Samad said the trial court had awarded punishment in the light of the convict's confession, DNA analysis and witnesses who had testified against him.