PHC stops execution of TTP terrorist

Said Akbar was to be hanged in Kohat today

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday stayed the execution of an alleged terrorist who was to be hanged in an internment centre in Kohat today.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Roohul Amin Khan suspended the sentence and stopped the hanging of Said Akbar till May 11. He had been awarded death sentence by a military court on terrorism charges. Said Akbar was an active member of the outlawed militant group Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and hailed from the Swat district.

As per the statement of the military's public affairs wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), issued on July 14 last year, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) had confirmed the death sentence of 12 hardcore terrorists, including the convict Said Akbar.

The ISPR noted that Said Akbar, son of Liber Khan, was an active member of TTP. “He was involved in attacking armed forces of Pakistan, which resulted in injuries and death of soldiers. He was also in possession of explosives. He admitted his offenses before the magistrate and trial court. He was tried on two charges and awarded death sentence,” the statement said.

Liber Khan, father of the convict, had challenged the death sentence awarded to his son by the military court and his execution in the PHC through his lawyer Muhammad Arif Jan. The lawyer submitted before the bench that the convict’s father claimed the security forces during an operation took Said Akbar into custody in 2009 and since then he was untraceable.

The lawyer explained that the convict was shifted to the interment centre at Paitham in Swat district and his relatives then held two meetings with him in 2016. However, he submitted that an in-charge of internment centre in Kohat had informed the family members about the death sentence of the detainee. He had asked all his family members to meet him on May 3 as he was to be hanged on May 4.

The Federation through the Ministry of Interior, Defence Ministry, Pakistan Army through Chief of Army Staff, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government through secretary Home and in-charge internment centre Kohat were made parties to the petition. It was claimed in the review petition that the petitioner and his other relatives approached the respondents several times for release of the detenue and provision of the record, if any, of his guilt, but no document was provided.

It was claimed that the death sentence to the son of the petitioner was illegal and unconstitutional as no opportunity of self-defence was given to the convict. The trial was termed against the provision of Article 10-A of the Constitution.

It was stated in the petition that the convict's case had not been dealt with in accordance with the law as the procedural law like Criminal Procedure Code was not followed.

"The code stated that the trial should be started from the framing of charge subject to the provision of certain documents, recording of evidence on the part of prosecution, cross-examination of the accused under section 342 CrPC and delivery of order and provision of its copy to the accused, but in the present case all these are missing which clearly shows the malafide of the respondents," the petition argued.

The petitioner prayed the court to stop and suspend the death sentence till a final decision in the petition.