ISLAMABAD: Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth, who headed the three-judge panel that has sentenced to death former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, said on Friday that he only watches wrestling on TV, in a comment that has been seen as an apparent disregard of the controversy the verdict has stirred.
Musharraf was convicted of high treason and sentenced to death by a special court in Islamabad on Tuesday. In the ruling’s detailed version, which was released by the court on Thursday, it is ordered that if the former president dies before his execution, the body should be “hanged for three days” at D-Chowk, close to the parliament building in Islamabad.
Justice Seth, who is also the chief justice of the Peshawar High Court, gave the impression that everything was business as usual for him on Friday morning when he came to the court, despite the federal government’s announcement that it would seek his dismissal.
Advocate Muhammad Muazzam Butt, a lawyer at the Peshawar High Court, told Arab News that to his surprise the chief justice was calm and composed, and when Butt told him “you appear so relaxed,” he replied: “I just watch wrestling on TV.”
“I think Justice Waqar wanted to say that he doesn’t monitor news on TV channels and that he was not aware of the ongoing media debate on his judgment,” Butt said, adding that throughout his career, he has always seen the judge calm and poised.
“Everything was normal in the morning when I came to the court,” Justice Seth told him.
On Friday, a day after the detailed verdict in Musharraf’s case was announced, the government said it would file a reference against Justice Seth to the Supreme Judicial Council. The Pakistan Army also slammed the ruling.
The Pakistan Bar Council, the apex body of lawyers, disapproved of the criticism and said it would file a petition in the Supreme Court to defend the judge.
Justice Seth belongs to a family of entrepreneurs in Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhawa.
Born in 1961, he started his legal carrier as advocate of a lower court in 1985 and became a judge in 2011. He has been serving as the chief of the Peshawar High Court since June 28, 2018.
Judge who sentenced Musharraf says ‘only watches wrestling on TV’
https://arab.news/68umg
Judge who sentenced Musharraf says ‘only watches wrestling on TV’
- Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth who sentenced Musharraf to death is unmoved by the controversy the verdict has stirred
- The Pakistan Bar Council is ready to defend the judge
UN torture expert decries Pakistan ex-PM Khan’s detention
- Khan’s party alleges government is holding him in solitary confinement, barring prison visits
- Pakistan’s government rejects allegations former premier is being denied basic rights in prison
GENEVA: Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan is being held in conditions that could amount to torture and other inhuman or degrading treatment, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on torture warned Friday.
Alice Jill Edwards urged Pakistan to take immediate and effective action to address reports of the 73-year-old’s inhumane and undignified detention conditions.
“I call on Pakistani authorities to ensure that Khan’s conditions of detention fully comply with international norms and standards,” Edwards said in a statement.
“Since his transfer to Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi on September 26, 2023, Imran Khan has reportedly been held for excessive periods in solitary confinement, confined for 23 hours a day in his cell, and with highly restricted access to the outside world,” she said.
“His cell is reportedly under constant camera surveillance.”
Khan an all-rounder who captained Pakistan to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup, upended Pakistani politics by becoming the prime minister in 2018.
Edwards said prolonged or indefinite solitary confinement is prohibited under international human rights law and constitutes a form of psychological torture when it lasts longer than 15 days.
“Khan’s solitary confinement should be lifted without delay. Not only is it an unlawful measure, extended isolation can bring about very harmful consequences for his physical and mental health,” she said.
UN special rapporteurs are independent experts mandated by the Human Rights Council. They do not, therefore, speak for the United Nations itself.
Initially a strong backer of the country’s powerful military leadership, Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote in 2022, and has since been jailed on a slew of corruption charges that he denies.
He has accused the military of orchestrating his downfall and pursuing his Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and its allies.
Khan’s supporters say he is being denied prison visits from lawyers and family after a fiery social media post this month accusing army leader Field Marshal Asim Munir of persecuting him.
According to information Edwards has received, visits from Khan’s lawyers and relatives are frequently interrupted or ended prematurely, while he is held in a small cell lacking natural light and adequate ventilation.
“Anyone deprived of liberty must be treated with humanity and dignity,” the UN expert said.
“Detention conditions must reflect the individual’s age and health situation, including appropriate sleeping arrangements, climatic protection, adequate space, lighting, heating, and ventilation.”
Edwards has raised Khan’s situation with the Pakistani government.
