Pakistan's Mumbai attacks trial prosecutor is dead

Malik Rab Nawaz Noon, the senior lawyer heading the Pakistan government's prosecution team in the trial of seven suspects linked to the 2008 Mumbai attacks, has died of a heart attack.

Noon, who was hired as the special public prosecutor for the trial of the seven suspects including Lashkar-e-Taiba commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, died late last night of a sudden heart attack.

He was aged about 65.

He was a senior advocate and a respected member of the Supreme Court Bar Association.

Supreme Court chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and other judges condoled his death today.

Sources said Noon's death is likely to affect the trial of the seven suspects linked to the Mumbai attacks by a Rawalpindi-based anti-terrorism court as the government will have to choose a new lawyer to head the prosecution team.

Noon had played a key role while representing the government in several cases related to the Mumbai attacks in the Lahore high court and the Supreme Court, including petitions filed by Lakhvi and the other suspects.

The next hearing of the Mumbai attacks case in the anti-terrorism court is scheduled for June 12.