Tuesday, February 3, 2015

No transfer of pending capital appeal to military court

A capital case currently on appeal before the Islamabad High Court, arising from the murder of a provincial governor who had spoken out against blasphemy laws will not be transferred to Pakistan's new 21st Amendment military courts. However, the case has a strange wrinkle:
[Mumtaz] Qadri has admitted shooting [Governor Salman] Taseer, saying he objected to the politician's calls to reform strict blasphemy laws which can carry the death penalty.
Qadri was garlanded by right-wing lawyers, including Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, after he was brought to court soon after he had killed the Governor.
The same Siddiqui was later appointed as a judge and now he is hearing Qadri's appeal against his conviction.

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