ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court’s constitutional bench conditionally allowed military courts to pronounce reserved verdicts of 85 civilians who were still in custody for their alleged involvement in last year’s May 9 riots.
The development came as a seven-judge bench resumed hearing a case pertaining to the trial of more than 100 civilians for their alleged role in attacks on army installations during the riots that followed ex-premier Imran Khan’s arrest on May 9, 2023.
The bench — comprising Justice Aminuddin, Justices Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Naeem Akhtar Afghan, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Hassan Azhar Rizvi, Musarrat Hilali, and Shahid Bilal Hassan — specified that the verdicts of the military courts would be subject to its final decision on the appeals against the Oct 23, 2023 ruling.
Passing directives at the end of today’s hearing, Justice Aminuddin Khan, who is heading the constitutional bench, said, “Suspects who can be accorded concessions in their sentences, should be given so and released.
“Suspects who cannot be released should be moved to jails once their sentence has been pronounced,” he added.Today’s directives allow military courts to pronounce verdicts, including those already acquitted, in trials that have been pending for more than a year.
The court order, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, reads: “The final judgment of 85 persons who are under the custody and facing trial before the military courts, be announced and the remissions admissible to the said persons be granted and persons who can be released after remissions they be released forthwith and the persons who have to yet undergo the sentence awarded to them, their custody be handed over to the concerned jail authorities.
“The learned additional attorney general states that they will be dealt with in accordance with the jail manual. The announcement of judgment will be subject to final determination of these appeals and without prejudice to the rights of the said 85 accused persons.”
In case the SC in its final verdict upholds its Oct 23, 2023 ruling, the acquitted persons can legally be tried by an anti-terrorism court or any other relevant court since the military trial and its verdict would be null and void, but could possibly benefit from the constitutional protection against double jeopardy.
