Right to fair trial: SC clubs pleas assailing military court verdicts

Decides to maintain stay on execution of terrorists.

ISLAMABAD: A larger bench of the apex court has clubbed all the appeals against the military courts’ convictions to examine whether or not these terrorists were provided a fair trial.

The Supreme Court’s five-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali on Wednesday took up five different petitions, filed by the military courts’ convicts, who approached the top court after their petitions were dismissed by the high courts.

So far, five convicts have approached the top court through Barrister Asma Jahangir while two convicts have engaged Advocate
Latif Afridi.

These courts – set up in the wake of December 2014 terror attack on a school in Peshawar to try hardcore terrorists – have concluded trials of 64 people.  They have found 40 defendants guilty and awarded death sentence to 36 people while giving life imprisonment to four.

Appearing before the bench, Asma Jahangir said she has filed two more petitions against the military courts’ orders. On her request, the bench clubbed all the appeals and ordered its office to set March 7 as the next date for hearing.

The top court also maintained its stay order on the execution of the terrorists, including two facilitators of the December 2014 attack on the Army Public School (APS).

Asma Jahangir also requested the bench to allow her to meet with the convicts but the chief justice said the court would examine this matter during the next hearing.

Another judge, Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, remarked that the court would examine the law of privilege and if it was found against the Constitution then trial record would be opened for public.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2016.