Death sentences for Pakistani men over fatal shooting

Two young men received death sentences on Friday over a fatal shooting that exposed class divisions in Pakistan and led to an unusual social media campaign demanding that the country’s rich and powerful be held accountable.

The suspects, Shahrukh Jatoi and Nawab Siraj Talpur, come from two of the wealthiest families in Karachi, a violent metropolis of 18 million people on Pakistan’s southern coast. They were convicted of killing 20-year-old Shahzeb Khan one late night in December after the university student had an argument with one of Talpur’s servants.

Khan’s family would likely have had little chance of getting justice in the past, though his father is a mid-ranking police officer. Pakistan’s police and judges are notoriously corrupt and are often swayed by pressure from the country’s elite.

After Khan’s death, his father called his wife’s brother-in-law, Nabeel Gabool, a member of the National Assembly, who said he had difficulty getting the police to register a case against the accused — an allegation denied by the police.

But powerful Pakistanis and their offspring are now faced with a growing cadre of citizens — often middle-class or upper middle-class — who are increasingly fighting them with the help of the internet, an activist Supreme Court and prominent political figures seeking to harness their anger.

Activists in Karachi sprang into action over Khan’s death, holding protests, using Twitter and setting up a Facebook page, “In memory of Shahzeb Khan,” to get word out about the case. Some of the protests were organised by the party of politician Imran Khan, a former cricket star.