SC halts execution of three convicted by military court

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday halted execution of three persons convicted by the military court for their involvement in terrorist activities.

A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, heard the appeals of three persons including Fazal Ghaffar, Nasir Khan and Fateh Khan against their conviction by the military court.

Fazal Ghaffar and Nasir Khan were awarded death sentence by the military court for their alleged affiliation with the terrorist outfits while Fateh Khan was awarded death sentence for having the alleged role of a facilitator with the terrorists, attacking the Army Public School, Peshawar.

During the hearing, Advocate Asma Jahangir appeared before the apex court and informed that the counsels for petitioners looked into ‘highly confidential’ record including military trial court proceedings at the office of Attorney General of Pakistan. She requested the court to allow her and other counsels of petitioners for ‘pen and notebook’ to note down the points in order to argue the case.

Meanwhile, the court stayed their execution and issued notices to the attorney general and summoned the record pertaining to the trial of the three convicted persons.

The court also directed to club the appeals of the three accused with other pending judicial reviews against the convictions of military court and ruled that a larger bench would take up it for hearing in the third week of June.

Earlier, on February 9, 2016, the apex court had halted the execution of four persons convicted by the military court for their involvement in a terrorist attack on the Army Public School Peshawar and attacking army personnel.

Seventeen judicial reviews have been so far instituted in the apex court, challenging the death sentences awarded by military courts to different alleged terrorists mostly belonging to tribal areas.

The 17 petitioners include Bacha Laiqa, Anwar Bibi, Aliur Rehman, Nek Maro, Alaf Khan, Sakhi Muhammad, Sher Alam,  Mashooqa Bibi, Javed Iqbal, Mohibullah, Fazal Ghaffar, Zarba Khela, Ajab Gul, Aqsan Mehboob, Khan Afsar Khan, Hafiz Muhammad Sadiq and Malik Muhammad Akram, who have challenged the convictions and military trials against their relatives.

Most of the judicial reviews against the sentences awarded by military courts revolve around the grounds including denial of right of fair trial under Article-10A and coram-non-judice.

Similarly, the Supreme Court through a verdict against a petition challenging the establishment of military court, declared that any order passed, decision taken or sentence awarded by the military courts would be subject to judicial review by the high courts and the Supreme Court on the grounds of being coram non judice, without jurisdiction or suffering from mala fides, including malice in law.