Musharraf plea hearing against special court conviction resumes

Lahore: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday resumed hearing a set of petitions filed by former President Pervez Musharraf challenging multiple actions against him, including his conviction for high treason, the establishment of the trial court that convicted him and filing of the original high treason inquiry against him by the government.

On Friday, a full bench of the LHC had asked the federal government to submit a summary on the formation of the Islamabad-based special court and had directed the state’s lawyer to present arguments on Monday, reports Dawn news.

A special court on December 17, 2019 handed down the death penalty to Musharraf after six years of hearing the treason case against him.

The case was filed by the then Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government in 2013.

In his petition, Musharraf had asked the LHC to set aside the special court’s verdict for being illegal, without jurisdiction and unconstitutional, while also seeking suspension of the verdict till a decision on his petition was made.

During Friday’s hearing, the LHC had posed questions regarding the legality of the treason case and the formation of the special court that conducted the trial and had handed Musharraf the death sentence.