PHC stays execution of man convicted by military court

PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court (PHC) bench on Wednesday suspended the execution of a man convicted by a military court for launching an attack against the personnel of the law-enforcement agencies in which a havaldar and three other soldiers were killed.

Justice Qalandar Ali Khan and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim issued notice to the Ministry of Defence and asked it to produce the record of the case of convict Hazrat Ali, whose father had challenged the conviction. The court fixed April 18 for the next hearing in the case.

On April 2, 2018, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) had announced the award of death sentences to 10 terrorists, including Hazrat Ali, by a military court. The army chief had later confirmed the sentences.

As per the statement of ISPR, the convict Hazrat Ali, son of Muhammad Ali, was a member of a proscribed organisation. “The convict was involved in attacking law-enforcement agencies, which resulted in the death of Havaldar Wahab Ali and three other soldiers.

The convict confessed to his offence before the judicial magistrate and the trial court. He was awarded death sentence,” the ISPR had stated.

During hearing, Barrister Ali Gohar, the petitioner’s lawyer, submitted that the convict is a resident of Waziristan and was picked up by the security forces in 2009 at the age 18 years.

He told the court that Hazrat Ali had been missing since 2009 and after nine years his family members came to know through media reports that he had been awarded death sentence by a military court.

The lawyer argued that the convict went missing in 2009, but was convicted on the basis of allegations concerning the year 2014-15. He said this clearly showed that the accused was innocent and has been implicated and sentenced in false cases.