Lahore HC reserves verdict in Musharraf's petition against special court's ruling to execute him

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday reserved its verdict on a set of petitions filed by former dictator Pervez Musharraf challenging against a special court ruling in the high treason case.

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday reserved its verdict on a set of petitions filed by former dictator Pervez Musharraf challenging against a special court ruling in the high treason case. The verdict is expected to be announced later today, Dawn reported citing Musharraf's counsel Azhar Siddique as saying.

On December 17, the special court handed a death sentence to Musharraf in the case. The court on November 19 concluded the trial proceedings in the case against Musharraf for declaring a state emergency on November 3, 2007.

The applications filed by Musharraf had been returned by LHC on December 27, last year due to the unavailability of the full bench during the winter vacation. These were filed again on January 8 by a legal panel comprising Khwaja Ahmad Tariq Rahim and Azhar Siddique. In his applications, the former military dictator asked the High Court to set aside the special court's verdict for being illegal, without jurisdiction, unconstitutional and in violation of Articles 10-A, 4, 5, 10 and 10-A of the Constitution.

He was indicted on March 31, 2014, and the prosecution had tabled the entire evidence before the special court in September the same year. However, due to litigation at appellate forums, Musharraf's trial lingered on and he left Pakistan in March 2016 "to seek medical treatment."

The former Pakistan President was then declared an absconder as he failed to appear in the court despite repeated summons and the court issued a directive to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to arrest him. (ANI)

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