SC maintains stay on death penalty

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday maintained its stay order against the execution of four terrorists, including two facilitators of the Dec 2014 carnage at the Army Public School (APS), Peshawar, condemned to death by the military courts.

The military courts in their verdicts concluded that the convicts – Taj Muhammad and Aliur Rehman – had facilitated the Taliban rampage at the APS in which over 142 persons, mostly schoolchildren, were killed.

Similarly, Qari Zubair was convicted for his involvement in the blast at a mosque in Nowshera, while Imran was sentenced to death for firing at a security checkpoint in Bajaur Agency that had killed eight persons, including six army soldiers.

The convicts challenged the military courts’ decisions in the Peshawar High Court (PHC), which upheld their conviction on Dec 9, 2015. Subsequently, the convicts challenged the PHC ruling in the Supreme Court.

The five-member larger bench headed by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and comprising Justice Mian Saqib Nisar Justice Amir Hani Muslim Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain took up the appeals.

During the proceedings, the chief justice asked the attorney general about the record sought from the Judge Advocate General (JAG) branch of the armed forces. The attorney general replied that the record had been received by the JAG branch.

Asma Jehangir submitted two more applications against the conviction by the military courts and the bench directed to club all the applications. Later, the hearing of the case was adjourned till March 7.