A day after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had suspended the death sentence awarded by a military court to a Bannu Jail attacker, the army told the court that the man had been convicted on three separate counts.
On Thursday, the IHC while hearing a petition seeking details on the whereabouts and the charges against Muhammad Tahir, had suspended the death sentence till the army furnished details of the conviction.
Subsequently, a representative of the army’s Judge Advocate General (JAG) appeared before the court on Friday, and through standing counsel Raja Khalid Mahmood, submitted the military’s reply.
The reply stated that the prisoner had been indicted on three separate counts, including an attack on a Frontier Corps check-post that left one soldier dead. A second charge related to attacking the Bannu Jail and freeing 381 inmates. The third charge related to attacking another FC check-post in Bannu.
Further, the IHC was told that the prisoner was tried by a military court in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa under the Pakistan Army (amendment) Act 2015 and sentenced to death. Subsequently, the Chief of Army Staff had confirmed the sentence on September 2, 2015. The prisoner was then shifted to a district jail on September 8. The JAG’s representative clarified that the army has no control over the convict while in district jail.
The JAG’s representative further told the court that the convict had challenged his sentence before the Army Court of Appeals. The appeal is likely to be fixed for hearing in the near future. On reviewing the army’s reply, acting chief justice of the IHC Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi, disposed of the petition.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 19th, 2015.
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