Pak Supreme Court upholds late Musharraf's death sentence in treason case

Pakistan's Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld late former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf's death sentence handed out to him by a special court in 2019 in the high treason case.

Musharraf, the architect of the Kargil War in 1999 and Pakistan's last military ruler died on February 5 in Dubai after a prolonged illness. The 79-year-old former president was undergoing treatment for amyloidosis in Dubai. He has been living in the UAE since 2016 in self-exile to avoid criminal charges back home.

A four-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Aminuddin Khan and Justice Athar Minallah conducted the hearing.

On December 17, 2019, a special court handed out the death sentence to the former ruler after a case of high treason was filed against him during Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party's tenure for his "unconstitutional" decision to impose an emergency in November 2007.

The apex court announced the reserved verdict on an appeal filed by the former ruler against the death sentence which was handed to him and declared ineffective for non-compliance.