Pak SC upholds death term of 16 terrorists

Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Monday upheld death sentences of 16 terrorists, awarded by military courts for attacks on Army Public School, parade line, Bannu Jail, Army convoys and other installations.

Chief Justice of Pakistan, Anwar Zaheer Jamali, announced the verdict, which was reserved earlier. The 16 terrorists had approached the Supreme Court against the military courts’ verdicts and the order was reserved on June 20.

Those whose appeals were dismissed included nine members of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and two Al Qaeda members, according to the military. Two convicts are said to have been involved in the Army Public School massacre. In its 182-page judgment, the court concluded that the appellants failed to prove wrongdoing on the part of the military authorities. Qari Zubair, Haider Ali, Qari Zahir Gul, Atiqur Rehman, Taj Muhammad, Aqsan Mehmood, Fateh Muhammad, Sher Alam, Faiz Muhammad, Muhammad Arbi, Muhammad Ghouri, Tahir Mehmood, Fazal Ghafar, Saeeduz Zaman and Sakhi Mehmood are among 16 to be hanged.

Mr Jamali rejected review appeals of all 16 death-row inmates, stating that military courts met all requirements of fair trials.

The government ended six-year moratorium on death penalty after Taliban attacked Army Public School in December 2014 and over 140 lives were lost, mostly students.

Military courts were established after bring an amendment in the Constitution that was passed unanimously, however, Pakistan People’s Party raised concerns of misuse of the amendment for political reasons.

The government assured the Opposition of fair use of the law to try terrorists only. The Pakistan Prime Minister stated that military courts were established for speedy trials of terrorists.

The military has so far convicted 104 civilians in the secret tribunals. Of those, 100 have been sentenced to death, and four to life imprisonment. All but six are said by the military to have confessed.

The decision is major blow to lawyers and civil society activists who had been struggling to reverse the convictions by the military courts.

They were tried by special military courts set up after Peshawar school attack for speedy trial of rebels.

It is not known when they were convicted and where the trial was held as such courts work at secret places due to security issues.

Army Chief General Raheel Sharif had already rejected the appeals but the convicts challenged the sentences in the Supreme Court. The decision marks the first time the highest court has ruled on the legality of cases tried by the military. According to the Express Tribune, senior lawyer and rights activist Asma Jahangir, the counsel for the convicts, on June 20 had demanded retrial of convicts. She also said that lawyers were not given access to the record of trial.

She argued that they do not know under what law her client was taken into custody and whether due course of law was provided.

She again contended that people were illegally arrested under the regulation, and later the constitutional amendment was introduced to hide the illegality.