—PHC rules recent military court convictions not based on evidence
The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday suspended order of Peshawar High Court (PHC) to release 73 military court convicts accused of involvement in terrorist activities.
The top court maintained the appeal of Ministry of Defence in this regard seeking suspension of PHC’s order that set aside convictions of 73 persons convicted by military courts on terrorism charges including suicide attacks and killing of law enforcement personnel and civilians.
In its plea, the defence ministry maintained that the accused were involved in terrorist activities and sought a stay on their release.
It is pertinent to note that the PHC has suspended the convictions awarded by military courts in various cases. The chief of army staff had confirmed the death sentence of the convicts, however, the families of the convicts had challenged the order in the court and it had stayed their execution.
Earlier, the PHC ruled that recent terrorism convictions by military courts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) were not based on evidence.
The ruling was made by the PHC while giving a detailed judgement on the recently-accepted petitions of 75 military court convicts.
The PHC bench also rejected the confessional statements of all the convicts and discussed if their right to free and fair trial was violated.
The bench also noted that the confessional statements of the all the convicts were recorded “in one and the same handwriting”.
The PHC bench directed the provincial and federal governments to free the convicts and internees if they are not wanted in other cases.
