IHC stays death ruling passed by military court

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday suspended the death sentence of a man convicted by a military court for his involvement in the 2012 Bannu jailbreak.

Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi, the acting IHC chief justice, suspended the execution of the sentence after standing counsel Raja Khalid Mahmood assured him that a report on the convict would be presented to the court in a day.

“If the requisite report is not submitted by [Friday], the execution of the sentence shall remain suspended until further orders,” said Qureshi.

The stay order came after the standing counsel failed to submit a report on Tahir Khan, who was convicted of being involved in the April 2012 jailbreak, in which more than 200 Taliban militants had attacked the central prison in Bannu to free close to 400 inmates.

Khan’s father Mir Shah had approached the IHC claiming his son was at his fruit and vegetable stall on February 24, 2014 when he was kidnapped by unidentified men.

Meanwhile, the Peshawar High Court also suspended the death sentence of a man convicted by a military court for his involvement in terrorist activities. The convict’s family said they were unaware of his whereabouts until they were informed of his trial and sentence. The hearing has been fixed for Friday.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th,  2015.