SC suspends death sentence of military court

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday suspended death sentence of a person who was convicted by the military court for breaking Bannu Jail.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali heard the appeal of one Muhammad Arabi, who was awarded death sentence by the military court for breaking Bannu Jail.

Counsel for the appellant submitted before the court that the military court without hearing his client had awarded the death sentence. The court while suspending the sentence issued notice to the respondents and adjourned the hearing for indefinite period.

The Chief Justice directed the court office to club all the appeals of the convicts, who were awarded sentence by military courts. 

Meanwhile, Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali hearing a murder and kidnapping case, acquitted a co-accused. Bushra Qamar, accused counsel, argued that the trial court and the high court had already acquitted two co-accused. She contended that this case is not of ‘Fasad fil Araz’. The deceased Sultan Babar’s parents appearing before the bench stated that their accused is ASI Munir Balochi.

The court inquired from Sultan’s parents whether they have given statement due to the pressure and threats of the killers. They said there is no pressure on them. Upon that the court ordered for the acquittal of Shabir Ahmed.

According to the case, three persons including ASI Munir Baloch stopped a car at a police check-post in Peshawar and took away the car to an undisclosed location where they killed Babar Sultan. The trial court had acquitted the other two co-accused.