Court cancels death penalty verdict in Musharraf's attack case

Pakistan's top court Wednesday abolished an army court's death penalty judgment to two civilian convicts in a suicide attack case on the country's former military president Pervez Musharraf, local media reported. Musharraf had survived two assassination attempts in December 2003 in the garrison city of Rawalpindi when his motorcade came under attacks. Several civilians and policemen had been killed in the attacks. Several military personnel and civilians had been arrested and convicted for their alleged role in the attacks. A military court had handed down life sentence to a civilian, Rana Naveed, and 20-year jail term to another man, Ameer Sohail. However, the army appeal court had later turned life terms into death penalties in July 2005. Both had challenged the verdict in the Supreme Court. The three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, had argued in previous hearings that the military appeal court had delivered the verdict without informing the convicts and adhering to the relevant procedure laid down in the law. The court had reserved its judgement on March 1 and delivered it on Wednesday. The apex court in its previous hearing had expressed surprise over the manner in which the military authorities enhanced the convicts' sentences. Defence lawyer for the accused, Hashmat Habib, had challenged court martial of civilians under the army act, saying that how, without giving an ample opportunity for defence to an accused, a military could pronounce punishment to civilians. The advocate also mentioned that as Sohail was under 18, his identity card was not available, adding that there was no evidence against the accused.