ISLAMABAD, 21 August 2005 — A Pakistani soldier convicted of involvement in a plot to kill President Gen. Pervez Musharraf two years ago was executed early yesterday.
Islam Siddiqui, 35, was hanged before dawn in central Pakistan’s Multan prison, said Jail Superintendent Malik Ataullah.
Siddiqui was among several soldiers arrested after alleged Al-Qaeda operatives and domestic militants — including army officers — tried to blow up Musharraf’s motorcade as it was traveling near Islamabad on Dec. 14, 2003.
No one was hurt in the attack. But on Dec. 25, at least 16 people — mostly the president’s police guards — were killed and several others wounded when suicide bombers tried to ram two explosive-laden vehicles into the president’s limousine. Musharraf also survived the second attack.
Siddiqui is the first person to be hanged in connection with the plots to kill Musharraf.
Siddiqui was sentenced to death last year by a military court which found him guilty of conspiring to kill Musharraf. The president later rejected a mercy petition by Siddiqui, who came from the Jacobabad district of southern Sindh province. Siddiqui’s body was handed over to members of his family for burial in his home town, Ataullah said.
A prison official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Siddiqui’s body was handed over to his father, Abdul Karim. After receiving his son’s body, Abdul Karim told Pakistan’s private Geo television that his son served in the army for 16 years and had told him he was innocent and had not planned to kill Musharraf.
It was unclear how many soldiers or air force personnel have been convicted in the case. Previously, authorities said about 12 soldiers and air force personnel were facing courts martial in connection with the assassination attempts.
Months after the attacks, Musharraf announced that some junior army and air force personnel, domestic militants and senior Al-Qaeda leader Abu Farraj Al-Libi were involved in the attempts to kill him.
