Seven persons were sentenced to death and six others given life imprisonment by an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan for publicly lynching two young brothers in the eastern city of Sialkot last year. Nine policemen who did not take any action to prevent the lynching,including former Sialkot district police chief Waqar Chauhan,were given prison terms of three years each. Judge Mushtaq Gondal announced the verdict yesterday. The seven persons who were given the death sentence were also directed by the judge to pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh each. The convicted policemen were sent to jail after the judge announced his verdict. There were a total of 28 accused in the case. One policeman arrested in connection with the incident died recently of a heart attack. Five accused were acquitted due to lack of evidence. The lynching of the brothers - Hafiz Muneeb (21) and Hafiz Mughees (17) - in Sialkot in August last year was filmed by a TV cameraman. The incident caused revulsion across Pakistan. Subsequent inquiries revealed the brothers were innocent and had never been charged for any crimes. The lynching occurred when the brothers were going to meet some relatives in Buttar village on August 15 last year. Some people caught them and claimed they were robbers fleeing after killing a man. In a brazen display of mob justice,the people beat the brothers with sticks and iron rods and hung their bodies upside down from a water tank. The grieved family demanded justice against policemen who stood by and did nothing as the brothers were lynched. The family said the youths were killed following a dispute over a cricket match.
