Apex court upholds Pervez Musharraf's death sentence in treason case
Pakistan
Musharraf was convicted in high treason case in 2019
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Wednesday upheld the death sentence handed down to the late Pervez Musharraf, who was a military ruler as well as president of the country, by a special court.
A four-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Ameenuddin Khan and Justice Athar Minallah heard the case.
The former ruler was sentenced to death on Dec 17, 2019, by a special court under Article 6 of the Constitution.
The case was brought against him for high treason during the tenure of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) because of his "unconstitutional" decision to declare an emergency in November 2007.
The petitioner's lawyer, Hamid Khan, said in his arguments that Pervez Musharraf had filed an appeal against the sentence, which is a criminal appeal.
Their petition is against the annulment of the sentence by the Lahore High Court, which is a constitutional matter. He pleaded that both appeals should be heard separately.
The chief justice remarked that in the absence of the heirs of Pervez Musharraf, the court could not hear the petitioner’s counsel as decisions should not be made based on assumptions.
Musharraf’s counsel Salman Safdar argued that his client's family resides outside Pakistan, therefore they can’t appear before the court. He added that his client was not the only one guilty of the offence, but the then prime minister, law minister, parliament and judges of the Supreme Court also were involved in the criminal case of November 2007.
Justice Athar Minallah remarked that if the offence of the 1999 emergency had been investigated, the action of Nov 3 would not have taken place.
During the hearing, the federal government opposed the appeal filed against the death sentence of Pervez Musharraf.
After hearing the arguments of all parties, the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the special court.
