KARACHI, Nov 29: An anti-terrorism court on Thursday sentenced three men to death in a kidnapping and murder case.

Badal, Yar Mohammad and Ali Akbar were found guilty of abducting 16-year-old Mohammad Hussain for ransom and killing him in February within the remit of the Khokhrapar police station in February 2011.

The anti-terrorism court-II handed down capital punishment to the convicts after recording evidence of witnesses and final arguments from both sides.

The court in its judgment observed that although no SIM was recovered from the custody of the accused, the evidence of a witness about the ransom call carried legal weight since there was a chain of circumstantial evidence and un-retracted confessional statement of an accused.

It further observed that evidence of last seen witness could be believed without any corroboration if it was found to be worthy of credence and the last seen witnesses in the present case were neutral witnesses since the defence had not alleged any enmity.

The last seen witness was generally regarded as a weak evidence, yet capital punishment can be awarded if an unbroken chain of evidence from the last seen till the death of the victim was established by conclusive evidence, the court ruled and added that the links in the present case were so well-connected that there was no room left to doubt them.