ANSAR ABBAS Sentenced to death on the basis of insufficient evidence Ansar was convicted and sentenced to death by an Anti-Terrorism Court III, Lahore of shooting and killing a policeman and injuring another at a checkpoint on 20 March, 2007. Ansar’s death sentence was confirmed by the High Court, an appeal to which is currently pending before the Supreme Court. The convictions at both the Trial and High Court level relied heavily on the eyewitness account of one policeman who was injured in the incident which took place at night. According to Ansar, he remained in extra judicial custody for 25 days and was subjected to torture for a confession statement. Of the two accused in custody, only Ansar was made to go through the “identification parade” used to identify the perpetrator, ten months after he was arrested. The entire prosecution case hinged on this positive identification. The weapon recovered from Ansar at the time of arrest did not match the bullets found at the scene of the crime but that was overlooked by the court on the basis that Ansar “might have thrown away the actual weapon and might have gotten this new one” [emphasis added] before arrest. Moreover, reliance was also placed on the alleged admission of guilt by the third co-accused to the owner of the motorcycle they were riding. This was a gross laxity of procedures, as the third partner had been killed as a result of a police encounter and could no longer confirm or deny the admission to which only one person, the motorbike owner, was a witness. Based on this evidence that in no way satisfactorily proved that Ansar was present at the scene or the one who shot at the police, and would not have held up in a regular court, Ansar was awarded the harshest available penalty. To date Ansar has already spent 11 years on death row. TIMELINE 16 FEB 2006 the murder of a policeman is committed NOV 2006 Ansar alleged that he  was kept in extra-judicial  custody of the police for  25 days and subjected to  severe torture for a  confession statement 30 NOV 2006 Ansar is officially arrested 01 DEC 2006 Identification parade is held  and Ansar is identified 11  months after the incident 20 MAR 2007 Anti Terrorism Court  Lahore sentence Ansar  to death 29 JUL 2009 Lahore High Court  confirm his sentence 30 MAY 2012 Supreme Court grant  leave of appeal PRESENT DAY His case is currently  pending in the  Supreme Court