Former Pakistani President and COAS General (R) Pervaiz Musharraf sentenced to death in high treason case
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*ISLAMABAD - **Former Pakistani President and COAS General (R) Pervaiz Musharraf sentenced to death in high treason case.*
*A special bench has sentenced former president Pervez Musharraf to death in a treason case under Article 6 of the Constitution. The law states that any person who abrogates or suspends the Constitution “by use of force or show of force” is guilty of high treason.*
The three-member bench, comprising Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth, Justice Shahid Karim of the Lahore High Court and Sindh High Court’s Justice Nazar Akbar, announced the verdict after two judges voted in favour of giving him a death penalty while one opposed it.
The interior ministry had petitioned the court, asking for it to order the special court hearing the treason case to delay announcing the verdict.
Musharraf was indicted in the case in March 2014 for suspending the Constitution in 2007. In 2016, he left to seek medical treatment in Dubai and hasn’t returned since.
The special court was stopped from announcing the verdict on November 28. It was ordered to appoint a new prosecutor by December 5 and hear the arguments from Musharraf’s side before announcing any verdict in the interest of a fair trial.
On December 16, the Lahore High Court issued a notice to the federal government on Musharraf’s application challenging the high treason proceedings against him. Musharraf had asked the high court to declare the proceedings against him as “unconstitutional”.
