*PESHAWAR: *A high court on Tuesday deferred the execution of a death rowinmate — sentenced such by a military court — after his family challengedhis conviction as being unfair since he was not given a chance to defendhimself.
The deferment comes a week after the Peshawar High Court (PHC) suspended asentence handed out to another man who had been convicted by a militarycourt of being involved in terrorism.
Rawaz Khan had been sentenced to death by a military court over the chargesof involvement in acts of terrorism. However, his family believes that hewas innocent and the charges levelled against him by the prosecution mustbe proved in court.
A PHC division bench, headed by Justice Qalandar Ali Khan, admitted thepetition filed by Rawaz’s mother Halima Bibi, through her attorney GouharRahman Khattak.
Khattak argued that Rawaz, a resident of the Naguman area of Peshawar, hadbeen missing since September 2016.
Later, he claimed, the family found out that he was being held by lawenforcement agencies at the Kohat internment centre on charges of beinginvolved in terror acts.
He further told the court that Rawaz’s family journeyed multiple times tothe internment centre in Kohat and met with him.
However, the family recently received a letter informing them to visit theinternment centre for a last meeting with the detainee since he had beensentenced to death by a military court.
“The allegations against him are baseless and he was not given the right todefend himself,” the lawyer contended.