Fair trial issue: PHC stays military court’s sentence

Stops execution of convict, issues notice to defence and interior ministries

PESHAWAR: A divisional bench of Peshawar High Court on Monday issued an injunction against a military court verdict sentencing a man to death and asked the ministries of interior and defence to file their responses.

The two-member bench also directed the advocate general to assist the court.

The bench comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Irshad Qaiser while hearing a writ petition filed by Fazal Ghaffar was informed that he has been handed the death sentence by a military court.

The bench was told that his family only received information about the death sentence on March 16, when the news was carried by newspapers.

The petitioner argued that Ghaffar was picked up by security agencies from Swat in 2009 and kept in an internment centre. The lawyer pointed out that no FIR had been registered in the case in which his client was awarded the death sentence. Moreover, the petitioner was denied the right to a fair trial, he claimed.

The counsel maintained that after the 21st Amendment a review petition can be filed against a military court judgment under Article 199 of the Constitution.

He appealed to the bench to suspend the sentence and stop the implementation of the military court judgment till final disposal of the case. The bench accepted the plea and issued notices to the defence and the interior ministries and adjourned the case till April 5.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 22^nd, 2016.