A Ghaziabad court has convicted nine persons for the murder of noted theatre activist Safdar Hashmi 14 years ago.

Additional District Sessions Judge C D Rai found the accused guilty after examining about 24 witnesses and will sentence them on Wednesday.

Those convicted are Mukesh Sharma, Devi Saran Sharma, Jitendra, Ramautar, Vinod, Yunus, Bhagat Bahadur, Tahir and Ramesh.

Hashmi, a CPI-M leader, was beaten to death while performing a street play Halla Bol during municipal elections in Jhandapur Sahibabad area here on January 1, 1989 by the main accused Mukesh Sharma and others.

The theatre activist was campaigning in favour of one Ramanath Jha against whom Mukesh Sharma was contesting.

All the accused were present in the court.

Reacting to the ruling, CPI-M general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet said, "It is a welcome verdict, though belated."