Death plotter’s mother begs Musharraf for mercy

MULTAN: The mother of a man sentenced to death for a 2003 attempt to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf begged the military leader on Monday to have mercy on her son.“I believe that my son is innocent and I ask President Musharraf to grant him clemency,” Zahoor Mai, mother of 22-year-old Zubair Ahmed, told reporters in Mohallah Islamabad of Kehror Pucca, Lodhran. She said that Zubair was jobless and had gone to Rawalpindi to earn a livelihood for the family but he had disappeared and now the family had come to know that he had been sentenced to death for a murderous attempt on the president. “It was shocking for us,” said the 45-year-old, adding that it was the first she had heard about her son for 18 months. “It is impossible that he could do such a thing,” she added. Zahoor Mai also appealed to authorities to allow her to see her son who has been in solitary confinement for one and half year. The death sentences relate to an attack on Christmas Day 2003, when two suicide bombers rammed explosives-laden vehicles into Musharraf’s motorcade in Rawalpindi near the capital, killing 15 people. Ahmed’s brother Muhammad Tariq told reporters he was confident that his brother was innocent as he had never criticised Musharraf and had no links with extremist organisations. He added that would appeal to rights groups including Amnesty International to press for an open trial of Ahmed in a civil court. staff report

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