KARACHI, Oct 18: Three top leaders of the banned Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Aalmi were sentenced to a 10-year term for hatching a plot to kill President Parvez Musharraf.

Judge Aley Maqbool Rizvi of the ATC-1, who conducted the trial inside the Central Prison, however, acquitted two workers of the banned religious outfit for lack of sufficient evidence.

Aalmi chief Mohammed Imran, his deputy Mohammed Hanif, finance secretary Mohammed Ashraf, and workers Waseem Akhtar and Sharib, have been charged with hatching a conspiracy to blow up the president’s motorcade within the limits of the Airport police.

The three leaders, convicted for the offences under Section 120-B and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorist Act, were also fined Rs100,000 each. The judge ordered that the defaulter on the payment would have to undergo an additional one-year term.

The case against five absconding accused — Habibullah Khattak, Mohammed Jamil, Mohammed Aamir and Kamran — was ordered to be kept on dormant till their arrest.

The Aalmi leaders were found guilty of having made an abortive attempt on the life of the president in last April.

It was alleged that accused Habibullah Khattak, who was given Rs400,000 by the Aalmi leaders, brought explosives and other weapons in a truck from the upcountry.

Accused Jamil was allegedly given Rs85,000 for purchasing a Suzuki pick-up, which was laden with explosives. The explosive-laden vehicle was parked near a shop at the Falak Naz Arcade, and accused Kamran had the remote control to blow up the explosives.

Accused Kamran, who had positioned himself at a petrol pump near Star Gate on the Sharea Faisal, allegedly pushed the remote control button several times but the vehicle did not blow up.

The accused had allegedly rented out the shop in a fake name and accused Aamir used to sit in it.

According to the charge sheet, accused Sharib had stuffed the vehicle with the explosives, and accused Naved and Jamil allegedly assembled the explosive devise and its remote control.

It was alleged that the accused Rangers official had given the information regarding the arrival of the president, and accused Mohammed Hanif, Imran, Jamil, Naveed, Aamir and Sharib had positioned themselves near the Awami Markaz to ascertain if the president’s motorcade had blown up.

According to the prosecution, the Aalmi leaders, during interrogation, revealed that they wanted to kill President Musharraf for his anti-Taliban and pro-US policies.

The prosecution was represented by Special Public Prosecutors Maula Bux Bhatti and Abdul Waheed Khan. Khawaja Naveed, Abdul Waheed Katpur and Maqboolur Rahman appeared for the accused persons.

The Aalmi chief, his deputy were earlier on April 14 sentenced to death and two other party workers, including Sharib, to life terms by the same ATC for killing 12 people and injuring 43 others in a car bomb attack on the US consulate last year.

HEARING PUT OFF: An anti-terrorism court put off on Saturday the hearing of a kidnapping for ransom case after recording the statements of the four accused.

Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the ATC-3 fixed Oct 21 for hearing of the final arguments from the prosecution and the defence.

Ghulam Hussain Soomro, Mohammed Akbar and Imran have been charged with the kidnapping of Abdus Samad for Rs3 million ransom on Aug 24 in Garden West.

According to the prosecution, four men came at the residence of Mohammed Hanif, a prize bond dealer, around 10am. They asked his elder son to take a file from their car for his father. The two sons of the dealer accompanied them to the car and the accused forcibly took away one of them, Samad.

The younger brother, a student of class seven, was able to remember the registration number of the kidnappers’ car, which belonged to a rent-a-car agency.

The police arrested Ghulam Hussain Soomro, who had rented the car (H-7296). The arrested accused led to the arrest of his two other accomplices and recovery of the hostage on Aug 28.

Three accused, Arshad alias Pappu, son of Haji Lalu, Rustam alias Haider and Ilyas, have been declared absconders.

The accused, Ghulam Hussain Soomro and Imran stated in the court that the complainant owed Rs2.9 million to the absconding accused, Mohammed Ilyas, a prize bond dealer from Punjab.

They claimed they had earlier gone to Hanif’s residence and he had given him Rs45,000 in cash and a cheque for Rs200,000.