PHC stays execution of convicted militant

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday stayed the execution of an a militant who had been awarded death sentence by a military court on terrorism charges.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Ikramullah Khan also issued notice to the federal government to submit record of the case before the next hearing.

The court suspended the death sentence after the wife of the convict Mutabar Khan, hailing from Swat district, filed a review petition through her lawyer Sahibzada Asadullah.The petition stated that the convict was handed over to the Pakistan Army by local elders in 2009 as he was required for interrogation. The woman claimed that her husband was handed over to Colonel Kashif and Salman Akbar of Pakistan Army and she then met him twice in the internment centre located in Swat.  

She said her relatives then came to know through the media reports that he had been awarded death sentence by a military court and the army chief had confirmed the sentence on September 22, 2016.The petitioner said that sentence handed to her husband was based on mala fide intention as he had gone missing in 2009 and was not involved in any terrorist activities.

As per the ISPR press release issued on September 22, Mutabar Khan was active member of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). It said he was involved in attacks on the armed forces and law-enforcement agencies and also the killing of a peace committee member. It alleged that he was also in possession of firearms and explosives. It added that the convict had admitted his offence before the magistrate and the trial court and was awarded death sentence.