The Special Court in Pakistan today handed death penalty to former president Pervez Musharraf for high treason, giving its judgment on charges relating to the imposition of extra-constitutional emergency in November 2007.
The case was 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, in its short order said it had analyzed complaints, records, arguments and facts in the case for three months. The court added it had found Musharraf guilty of high treason according to Article 6 of the Constitution of Pakistan.
It was a majority verdict, with three of the two judges giving the decision against Musharraf.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government had filed the treason case against Musharraf in 2013 over the president’s imposition of extra-constitutional emergency in November 2007.
On March 18, 2016, the former president left Pakistan for Dubai for medical treatment after his name was removed from the exit control list on the orders of the Supreme Court.
A few months later, the special court had declared him an absconder and ordered confiscation of his property owing to his continuous inability to appear in court. Later, his passport and identity card were also cancelled on orders of the apex court.
Musharraf, 74, ruled Pakistan from 1999 to 2008.
