The Lahore High Court on Wednesday suspended the three-year prison sentence awarded to PTI leader and former MPA Junaid Afzal Sahi in a May 9 riots case.
A two-member bench headed by Justice Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi heard the appeal against the conviction and suspended the sentence after hearing arguments from both the defence and prosecution.
During the proceedings, defence counsel Chaudhry Uzair Ashraf Advocate argued that the trial court had failed to properly appreciate the facts of the case before awarding a three-year prison sentence to his client. He informed the court that Junaid Afzal Sahi had already spent seven months in jail following his conviction and requested the bench to suspend the sentence.
The state counsel and special prosecutor opposed the plea for suspension of sentence; however, they failed to satisfy the court regarding continuation of the conviction.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the bench suspended the sentence of Junaid Afzal Sahi and adjourned further proceedings on the appeal until a later date.
According to the prosecution, a case had been registered against Junaid Afzal Sahi at Civil Lines police station in Faisalabad in connection with the May 9 incidents. Following completion of trial proceedings, the Anti-Terrorism Court in Faisalabad had sentenced the former MPA to three years imprisonment, against which he later filed an appeal before the high court.
Meanwhile, the bench rejected the plea of co-accused Firdous Rai seeking suspension of his 10-year prison sentence.