ISLAMABAD: In a 182-page decision, the Supreme Court (SC) rejected all appeals against convictions handed down by military courts, including capital punishment, in terrorism-related cases on Monday.
\nThe convicted, including Qari Zubair, Haider Ali, Qari Zahir Gul, Taj Mohammad, Atteeq-ur-Rehman, Akhtar Mahmood, Fateh Mohammad, Sher Alam, Mohammad Arabi and others, were found guilty of involvement in the Army Public School Attack in Peshawar, Parade Line bombing in Rawalpindi, the Bannu jailbreak and attacks on army convoys and installations.
\nChief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif had already rejected appeals of the 16 convicted in military courts.
\nThe decision marks the first time the highest court has ruled on the legality of cases tried by the military. The bench ruled that the appellants had not proved the military violated their constitutional rights or failed to follow procedure, in a blow to some activists who contend the courts routinely violate people’s rights.
\nA five-member bench had reserved its decision on 16 petitions on June 20, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and comprised of Justice Amir Hani Muslim, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, Justice Manzoor Ahmed Malik and Justice Faisal Arab.
\nThe counsel for the convicted had complained that their clients did not receive a fair trial, nor were they allowed to choose their counsel.
\nThe SC argued that the conditions for a fair trial were met and the defendants had been provided with counsel.
\nThe decision observed that, “Neither the order passed by the Field General Court Martial [military court] is a case of no evidence nor the evidence led by the prosecution is insufficient. There is sufficient material available to prove the guilt of the appellants.”
\nOn June 20, rights activist Asma Jahangir appealed to the Supreme Court to order retrial in all cases in which military courts handed down convictions, including capital punishments.
\nJahangir had complained that the full record of the evidence had not been made available to the accused. She also regretted that her clients had been arrested under the Action (In Aid of Civil Power) Regulation 2011 (AACPR) before military courts were established, but their cases were sent to military courts only to \u201chide malice on the part of security forces because the rule under which the accused had been nabbed had no constitutional protection\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD: In a 182-page decision, the Supreme Court (SC) rejected all appeals against convictions handed down by military courts, including capital punishment, in terrorism-related cases on Monday. The convicted, including Qari Zubair, Haider Ali, Qari Zahir Gul, Taj Mohammad, Atteeq-ur-Rehman, Akhtar Mahmood, Fateh Mohammad, Sher Alam, Mohammad Arabi and others, were found guilty of involvement […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":924,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-top-news"],"yoast_head":"\n