Pakistani acid attacker jailed for 30 years

LONDON, May 12 (APP): An acid attacker of Pakistani descent who left a 25-year-old man severely disfigured in a horrific plot to avenge his family's "dishonour" has been jailed for 30 years. Mohammed Waqas was found guilty by an Old Bailey jury of plotting to murder Awais Akram.The victim was targeted because of his intimate relationship with Sadia Khatoon, 24, a married businesswoman he had met on Facebook, the court heard. When her husband, Shakeel Abbasi, and Waqas, her brother, found out about it, they got her to lure Akram out of his flat in Leytonstone, East London, to the scene of the attack last year in July.

There the victim was beaten and stabbed before Waqas poured concentrated sulphuric acid over his head, leaving him with 47% burns and fighting for his life.

Waqas, 26, of Walthamstow, was found guilty of conspiring with Khatoon and her husband to murder Akram. Husband and wife reportedly fled to Pakistan.

Fellow attackers Mohammed Adeel, 20, also of Walthamstow, and a 17-year-old youth, named as Fabion Kuci, of Harlesden, north-west London, were convicted of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm.

Adeel was jailed for 14 years and the youth was locked up for eight years.

Akram, who survived the attack but continues to undergo treatment for his injuries.

In awarding the punishment, Judge Brian Barker said: "The facts of this case are horrifying. This was a remorseless and a heartless plan.

It was to punish and kill Akram in the most cruel and sadistic way. The reason can be deduced as being an unacceptable relationship with Sadia Khatoon and Awais Akram. This was deemed to bring dishonour to her husband and to both families."