Execution Of Three Military Court Convicts Stayed By Top Court
Tuesday, May 10th, 2016 10:01:07 by modousarr
The execution of three terror convicts condemned to death by a military court was stayed by the top court, on Tuesday.
The three-judge bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, led by Justice Amir Hani Muslim, gave notices to Attorney General of Pakistan, Shakeelur Rehman and JAG branch, adjourning the hearing of the case for an unspecified period.
The suspects, Fateh Khan, Fazal Ghaffar and Tajir Gul were convicted of executing terror attacks in the country by military courts.
During the proceedings, however, counsel to the convicts argued before the apex court that the accused lacked the opportunity to have a fair trial. “They were not provided with a lawyer to defend themselves and were not even informed about the allegations against them.”
As a result of the arguments of the accused’s counsel, the Supreme Court ordered the suspension of execution of the suspects and demanded for their complete trial record to be brought from the military courts.
This move by the Supreme Court to stay the execution of terror suspects convicted my military courts is not new.
The top court, in February, stayed the execution of four terrorists, including two facilitators who were condemned to death by military courts for the December 2014 carnage at Peshawar’s Army Public School (APS).
The convicts challenged the decision of the military court before the Peshawar High Court (PHC), which in turn, upheld the conviction on 9th December 2015. The convicts further went before the Supreme Court, challenging the decision the PHC ruling.
Recently, another two-judge bench of the top court, headed by Gulzar Ahmad, suspended on 7th December 2015, a military court ruling which convicted Qari Zahir Gul and Haider Ali for terrorists acts and were condemned to death. The issue was referred to the chief justice with a request for constitution of a larger bench.
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