Espionage conviction: ‘Prison term begins from day of arrest’

LHC sought reply from federal government to an appeal by two men convicted of spying for India.

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court on Monday sought a reply from the federal government to an appeal by two men convicted of spying for India for their prison term to be reduced for the time they had been detained before being sentenced, as per Section 382-B of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

A military court had convicted Muhammad Afzal and Muhammad Islam of spying for India and sentenced them to four years in prison each. They filed an appeal at the LHC, saying that their sentence should be counted as beginning on the day they were arrested.

Justice Ayesha A Malik directed a deputy attorney general to submit the government’s reply by the second week of November, when the hearing will resume. According to Section 382-B of the CrPC, “The length of any sentence of imprisonment imposed upon an accused person in respect of any offence shall be treated as reduced by any period during which he was detained in custody for such offence.”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2013.