The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday suspended the execution of a terrorist who was sentenced to death by a military court.
Haider Ali, now 21 years old, was arrested by security forces in 2009, when he was 14 years old and a 10th grade student at the Malakand Public High School, Swat. He was charged with terrorism and a military court had ordered his execution. However, Ali’s parents challenged the death sentence in the PHC, maintaining that they did not have any information about him after his arrest in 2009.
They said that they had found out after six years that their son was imprisoned in a jail in Timergara in Lower Dir district, and was sentenced to death by a military court. They prayed the PHC to halt the military court’s sentence.
A two-judge bench of the PHC comprising Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Younis Theem admitted the petition and ordered to suspend the military court’s verdict until September 8. The judges also issued notices to the federal government, defence secretary, home secretary, General Officer Commanding Malakand and other concerned officers for the next date.
On Saturday, the Supreme Court Registrar Office had declined to entertain a petition moved by Zahir Shah, the father of Haider Ali, in which he sought orders for the authorities to provide the record of the trial court proceedings so that a proper appeal challenging the judgment of the military court could be filed either before the Supreme Court or the high court. The Registrar Office said that petitioner had not approached the high court concerned or any other appropriate forum available to him under the law for the same relief.
