Special court hands death penalty to Musharraf in high treason case

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2019-12-17T12:21:00+05:00 Web Desk

The special court formed to hear a high treason case against former president Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday sentenced the former dictator to death for suspending the Constitution on November 03, 2007.

The government had sought to include former chief justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, former law minister Zahid Hamid and former prime minister Shaukat Aziz as co-conspirators in the case.

The case was being heard by a special bench comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth Akbar of the Peshawar High Court, Justice Shahid Karim of the Lahore High Court and Justice Nazar Akbar of the Sindh High Court. The bench was formed on the orders of the Supreme Court.

The court, before announcing its verdict, had rejected the request and directed the plaintiff to argue his case on merit. The special court had informed the plaintiff that the Supreme Court has already ruled on the matter.

The court subsequently recessed before announcing its verdict in the case.

The special court had reserved its verdict in the long-running high treason trial of the retired general last month.

The court, when reserving its verdict, had said it will announce its judgement on November 28. However, the Islamabad High Court had barred the bench from issuing its verdict.

When the court reconvened on November 28, it noted that it was not bound to follow the Islamabad High Court's (IHC) order. Nonetheless, the court allowed the ex-dictator to record his statement in the case by December 5.

In its hearing on December 5, the special court had announced it would issue the verdict on December 17, even if arguments of both sides were not completed by then.

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