Wednesday, August 14, 2024

Described as a First

Aamar Latif, In 1st, Pakistan army arrests former intel chief, initiates court martial proceedings. Anadolu Agency, 12 August 2024.

The Pakistani military on Monday announced that former head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt. Gen. (retd) Faiz Hameed has been taken into custody and court martial proceedings has been initiated against him.

This is the first time that a former ISI chief has been arrested in the country's 77-year history.

“Complying with the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, a detailed court of inquiry was undertaken by the Pakistan Army to ascertain the correctness of complaints in the Top City (land) Case made against Lt Gen Faiz Hameed (Retd). Consequently, appropriate disciplinary action has been initiated against Lt Gen Faiz Hameed (Retd), under provisions of the Pakistan Army Act,” the army’s media wing said in a statement.

This is not the first time a retiree has faced court-martial

Initial research raises a question of jurisdiction. The Army Act 1952, suggests that,

(2) Every person subject to this Act under clause (a) or clause (b) 1 [or clause (e)] of sub­section (1) shall remain so subject until duly retired, released, discharged, removed or dismissed from the service.

If he is a civilian, this leads to the larger discussion about the ongoing dispute about civilians being prosecuted in courts-martial (it's Wikipedia, but a start). In the U.S. he likely would not be subject to jurisidiction based on the statutory language under United States ex rel. Toth v. Quarles.

For a summary of U.S. military jurisdiction over retired officers, see the Congressional Research Service and a Georgetown Law article

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments are subject to moderation and must be submitted under your real name. Anonymous comments will not be posted (even though the form seems to permit them).