Govt challenges SC stay on executions awarded by military courts

Govt argues there is no reason for SC to grant stay of executions; top court to take up case tomorrow

ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Tuesday challenged a decision by the Supreme Court that temporarily halted the execution of six terrorists whose death sentences were awarded by military courts, Express News reported.

On April 17, the top court stayed execution of death sentences awarded by the military courts to six accused on charges of terrorism. These courts were recently established under the 21st Constitutional Amendment.

The government filed a petition on Tuesday, arguing that there is no reason for the apex court to stay executions of the convicts even before assessing the authority of military courts.

The case is expected to be heard in the apex court tomorrow (April 22).

On April 16, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) had requested the top court to pass an interim order staying execution of the condemned prisoners.

Read: 21st Amendment: Death penalties awarded by military courts challenged

Noor Saeed, Haider Ali, Murad Khan, Inayatullah, Israruddin and Qari Zahir were condemned to death on April 2 by the military courts which have been established through a constitutional amendment under the National Action Plan.

Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Salman Aslam Butt had expressed reservation over the apex court’s decision and said the trial of the convicts in the military courts was not a secret crime and a complete procedure was adopted.