Sunday, January 24, 2016

Obstacle course to judicial review in Pakistan

The task of getting before a civilian judge to obtain review of death sentences passed by Pakistan's military courts can apparently be daunting. In the three cases described in this article, a Lahore High Court judge sitting at Rawalpindi rejected the registrar's contention that the cases were inadmissible. Excerpt:
Justice Abdul Sami Khan admitted the petitions filed by Javaid Iqbal Ghuari, Kalsoom Bibi, and Said Zaman after their lawyer Advocate Colonel (retired) Inam-ur-Rahim maintained before the court that due course of law was not followed when they were tried in military courts. 
The office of the LHC registrar had raised an objection against the petitions, saying that writ petitions could not be filed in the high court against military court verdicts. After hearing the arguments of Advocate Rahim, however, Justice Khan admitted the petitions and set January 25 for the next hearing.

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