ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s death sentence awarded to him by a special court in 2019 in a “high treason case”.
“The impugned passed on January 13, 2020, by the Lahore High Court (LHC) […] is not sustainable and accordingly set aside,” Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa said while announcing the short verdict.
The order comes as a four-judge SC bench — headed by the CJP and comprising Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Aminuddin Khan and Justice Athar Minallah — took up a set of appeals pertaining to the 2020 Lahore High Court (LHC) order declaring unconstitutional the death sentence awarded to Musharraf.
A special court in Islamabad convicted the former dictator in December 2019 of high treason and sentenced him to death under Article 6 of the Constitution. In Pakistan’s history, this was the first time a military head had been found guilty and given consequences.
On January 13, 2020, however, the LHC ruled that all of the government’s activities against Musharraf—including the filing of a complaint alleging high treason and the establishment of a special court and its proceedings—were unconstitutional. The death sentence that was imposed upon him was abolished as a result of the verdict.
Following this, the LHC verdict was challenged by the Pakistan Bar Council and several senior lawyers including Taufeeq Asif.
The court today announced the reserved verdict on the appeal filed by the former ruler against the death sentence which was handed to him and declared it ineffective for non-compliance.
“Pervez Musharraf’s heirs did not follow the case even on multiple notices,” the SC remarked while rejecting the former president’s appeal.
Musharraf’s counsel, Salman Safdar, said that he tried contacting Musharraf’s family after the court decided to hear the appeal but the family never responded to him.
The court also declared LHC’s judgment “null and void” and remarked that the LHC’s decision was against the law.
