A local court on Saturday awarded the death sentence to primary accused Rizwan Habib in the murder case of his former spouse, Pakistani-American Wajiha Swati, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka passed the judgment with four senior officials of the United States Embassy and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) team present in the court.

The Rawalpindi court also awarded seven years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 100,000 each to two co-accused — Wajiha’s father-in-law, Hurriyatullah, and servant, Sultan — while three suspects, including Yousuf, Zahida and Rasheed were acquitted due to lack of evidence against them.

The accused, Rizwan Habib Bangash, who confessed to killing his former wife last December, was also awarded ten years of imprisonment on the charges of kidnapping the victim.

The FIR for Wajiha’s kidnapping and murder was registered with the Morgah Police Station on October 17, 2021.

The verdict was announced after the court recorded the final statements of the public prosecutors and the defence counsels for all the six suspects in the case.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 600,000 on Bangash.

Habib Bangash had killed Swati on the very first day of her arrival from the United States, and on the advice of his servant, shifted her body from Rawalpindi to Lakki Marwat in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa.