Pak’s new military courts challenged over abuse claims

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Supreme Court is expected to rule soon on whether secret military tribunals set up in early 2015 to try civilians accused of terrorism have violated the constitutional rights of 12 people convicted by these courts.
The military tribunals were established after the massacre in December, 2014, by Islamist militants of 134 students at an army-run school in the northwestern city of Peshawar.
Lawmakers authorised the courts in January last year, handing over significant judicial control to a military that is already powerful and has ruled the country of 190 million people for about half of its existence.
They have so far convicted 81 people, 77 of whom were sentenced to death, according to the military’s press wing. There have been no acquittals, the military says.
At least 27 convicts have filed appeals with civilian courts, alleging coercion of confessions and denial of access to lawyers and to evidence used against them, according to Reuters research and local media reports.
Of the 12 cases that have come before the Supreme Court, the legal arguments have concluded in nine. The court has been hearing the case for the remaining appellants, and is expected to give a verdict on all 12 cases together, possibly in the coming weeks. (Reuters)