The Lahore High Court (LHC), Rawalpindi bench, on Monday halted the execution of death sentences awarded to five terrorists in an attack on an army camp in Gujrat in 2012.
Ehsan Azeem, Asif Idrees, Aamir Yousaf, Kamran Aslam and Umer Nadeem were awarded death sentence by a military court for their involvement in a terrorist attack which claimed the lives of seven security personnel.
Justice Arshad Mahmood Tabassum heard a writ petition filed by Sajida Parveen, the mother of Ehsan Azeem, through her counsel Laiq Khan Swati. The counsel pleaded the court to set aside the conviction and sentence awarded by the military court and provide opportunity for a fair trial to his client.
During the course of proceedings, the court issued a stay order against the implementation of death sentences of all the five convicts till the next date of hearing. Swati argued that his client Ehsan Azeem along with Asif Idrees, Aamir Yousaf, Kamran Aslam and Umer Nadeem was convicted and awarded the death sentence with no information of an inquiry report, charge-sheet and a copy of summary of evidence provided.
Therefore, he further argued, it could not be determined on what charges his client was awarded a death penalty. He added that his client was not given the right to file an appeal against the decision of a military court.
He prayed the court to declare the conviction and sentence awarded to his client by the military tribunal illegal, unlawful. He further prayed the court to provide an opportunity for a fair trial to his client and suspend the sentence till a decision by the bench.
The court issued notices to all respondents in the petition directing them to submit their replies within two weeks.
