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Pakistani Court Sends 7 to Jail Over Videotaped Killing

18 June 2011 03:17 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. A Pakistani court has sent six members of the paramilitary forces and a civilian to jail pending formal charges for the videotaped killing of an unarmed man on June 8, APA reports quoting â€œThe Voice of Americaâ€.
Prosecutor Arshad Iqbal Cheema said the suspects appeared before the court Friday in Karachi. He said he is now scrutinizing the police report before submitting charges against the men in an anti-terrorism court.
The video â€” which originally aired uncut on Pakistani television â€” shows 22-year-old Sarfaraz Shah pleading for his life before being shot by paramilitary soldiers. Shah died during treatment at a Karachi hospital.
The paramilitary force claims the man was armed and trying to rob someone when he was detained. But the brutal nature of the video disturbed many in Pakistan and called into question the actions of authorities.
Earlier this week, Pakistan’s military removed two senior officials in Sindh province in compliance with a Supreme Court order because of the incident.
Separately, there is another video circulating in Pakistan, showing the shooting death of five Russian nationals near the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province, Quetta. Security forces claim they were suicide bombers, but so far, there has not been any evidence that the five were armed.
Human rights groups have long accused Pakistani security forces of carrying out extrajudicial killings.