A trial court in November 2005 had awarded Arif, alias Ashfaq, the death sentence. Additional Sessions Judge O P Saini had also fined Arif Rs 4.35 lakh for the attack that had left two Rajputana Rifles jawans and a civilian dead.
On December 22, militants had stormed the Red Fort and opened fire on an Army camp inside. An apex court bench dismissed the appeal of Ashfaq, challenging the death sentence awarded for the December 22, 2000 Red Fort attack case by the sessions court and confirmed by the Delhi High Court. The apex court had earlier reserved its verdict on Ashfaq’s appeal.
Ashfaq had challenged the high court’s judgement dated September 13, 2007 which had upheld the death penalty awarded to him but had acquitted six others sentenced for varying jail terms. The high court had dismissed Ashfaq’s appeal against a trial court verdict awarding capital punishment to him for waging a war against the state and killing three persons, in the Red Fort.
It had reversed the trial court findings against six convicts including Srinagar-based father-and-son duo Nazir Ahmed Qasid and Farooq Ahmed Qasid, who were sentenced to life imprisonment, and Pakistani national Ashfaq’s Indian wife Rehamana Yosuf Farooqui. She was given a seven-year jail term.