- ICJ says military trials erode rule of law, weaken govt’s legitimacy
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) urged the government of Pakistan to withdraw its proposal to reinstate and widen the scope of military trials for civilians, according to a press release issued on Tuesday.
“Bringing back military courts is an attempt to deflect attention from the real issue: the government’s failure to enact reforms to strengthen the criminal justice system during the two years (2015-2017) military courts were in operation,” said Sam Zarifi, Asia director for the commission.
Bills to amend the Pakistan’s Constitution and the Army Act, 1952, to extend the jurisdiction of the military courts to try a wide variety of terror-related offences, were introduced before the National Assembly on Friday (March 10).
The terror-related offences include, among others: abducting any person for ransom; raising arms of waging war against the state; causing any person injury of death; using or designing vehicles for terrorist attacks; creating terror or insecurity in Pakistan; and attempting, aiding or abetting any of these acts.
The new amendments are also applicable in all cases where the accused commit grave and violent acts against the state. The mandatory requirement to belong to a group that uses the name of religion or sect, as introduced by the 21st amendment and corresponding amendments to the Army Act introduced in 2015, is no longer applicable.
“The expansion of military courts’ jurisdiction over all ‘grave and violent acts against the state’ creates the possibility that these courts could be used against a wide variety of people, including those who are legitimately exercising their rights to speech, association, and assembly,” Zarifi said.
According to the preambles of the bills, an extraordinary situation and a grave and unprecedented threat to the integrity of Pakistan still exist in the country, and military courts are being revived because they yielded positive results in combating terrorism in the two years they were in operation.
“The military courts have not had any positive results in combating terrorism, given the country’s ongoing problem with acts of terrorism and armed insurgents,” Zarifi said. “Instead, military trials of civilians have further eroded the rule of law and weakened the government’s legitimacy in providing justice and defending the rights of people in Pakistan.”
The military courts constituted under the 21st amendment convicted 274 people in the two years during which they were in operation, from January 7, 2015 to January 6, 2017. Of those 274 convictions, 161 people were sentenced to death and 113 people were given prison sentences.
At least 17 people given death sentences have been executed by hanging. The enabling legislation for these courts lapsed on January 6, 2017 pursuant to a two-year sunset clause. The ICJ recalled that the use of the military courts to try civilians was inconsistent with the international standards.
The ICJ has documented serious fair trials violations in the operation of the military courts including: denial of the right to counsel of choice; failure to disclose the charges against the accused; denial of a public hearing; failure to give convicts copies of a judgment with evidence and reasons for the verdict; and a very high number of convictions based on confessions without safeguards against torture and ill treatment.