Attack on GHQ: three civilians file appeal in MC against conviction

The three civilians convicted in the attack on GHQ have filed an appeal before a Military Court (MC) against their conviction. Mohammad Usman, Wajid Ali and Khaliqur Rehman who were sentenced to life imprisonment, have appealed to the court to give them a right to appeal against the military court ruling.
In their plea, the applicants pleaded to initiate the process of leave to appeal, which would permit them to go into appeal against the ruling. The Field General Court Martial convicted seven accused for the 2009 GHQ attack, including two army personnel and five civilians. The court awarded death sentence to army sepoy Aqeel alias Dr Usman, while four were awarded life imprisonment and the remaining two were given seven and eight years imprisonment.
The counsel for the accused Colonel Enamur Rehman Advocate revealed that Aqeel Alias Dr Usman was awarded death sentence and Imran Siddiq was given life imprisonment. The convicted civilians include Khaliqur Rehman, Muhammad Usman, Wajid Ali, Muhammad Adnan and Tahir Shafiq. The first three have been sentenced to life imprisonment, while the other two have been given jail terms of seven and eight years, respectively.
The civilians are considered to be friends of Aqeel and they have been convicted for assisting the attackers, helping them find their targets and inciting servicemen to wage war against the army. The families of the convicted have initiated the appeal process after they were granted leave to appeal subsequent to receiving the copy of the decision.
On October 10, 2009, heavily-armed militants wearing suicide vests mounted a brazen attack on General Headquarters Rawalpindi and held hostage army commandos for hours. Nine of the attackers were killed in the operation while one was arrested after he was wounded in the operation. He was identified as Aqeel, alias Dr Usman. According to the prosecution, the accomplices had known about Aqeel's plans and had helped him carry out the attack; meanwhile 11 military personals were also martyred in this attack.