Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf sentenced to death in high treason case

Pakistan Court on Tuesday sentenced former Pakistan dictator General (retd) Pervez Musharraf to death in a high treason case, for suspending the Constitution. With this death sentence, Pervez Musharraf will be the first former Army chief in Pakistans history to be awarded a death penalty. A Special court in Pakistan had ordered the 76-year-old former President of Pakistan to record his statement by December 5. 

The statement was made by a three-member bench of the special court, headed by Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth, which was conducting a hearing of the case against the former president on Thursday, Geo News reported. Musharraf has maintained that the treason case filed against him is 'baseless' and that his lawyer was left unheard in the Pakistani Court. Pervez Musharraf, who has been in Dubai for the past three years citing serious health concerns, recorded a video message from  Dubai's American Hospital. In the video message, he had said that he was "very unwell" and has had health issues for a while now. 

The former Pakistani President said, "My lawyer Salman Safdar is not being heard by the court. I have fought wars for Pakistan and served my country for 10 years."  His legal team can apply to the Pakistani Supreme Court. He was booked in the treason case in December 2013, under the Nawaz Sharif government in Pakistan. Musharraf seized power by ousting then-Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a 1999 bloodless coup. He has also served as Pakistan's president from 2001 to 2008.

The ex-military dictator was charged with Article 6 of the Pakistani Consitution.  Article 6 of the Constitution says: “Any person who abrogates or subverts or suspends or hold in abeyance, or attempts or conspires to abrogate or subvert or suspend or hold in abeyance the Constitution by use of force or show force or by any other unconstitutional means shall be guilty of high treason."

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High Treason Case

The high treason trial of the former military dictator for clamping the state of emergency on November 3, 2007, filed during the previous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government, has been pending since 2013. He was booked in the treason case in December 2013. Musharraf was indicted on March 31, 2014, and the prosecution had tabled the entire evidence before the special court in September the same year.

But due to litigation at appellate forums, the trial of the former military dictator lingered on and he left Pakistan in March 2016 with the nod of superior courts as well as the interior ministry for medical treatment. According to previous Pakistani media reports, Musharraf had amyloidosis, a rare disease caused by the build-up of an abnormal protein called amyloid in organs and tissues in the body, and is under medication. 

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(with PTI inputs)