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