Pakistani special court sentenced former president Pervez Musharraf to death in absentia, ending six-year-long high treason proceedings against him for suspending the nation’s constitution in 2007.
The three-member special court, headed by judge Waqar Ahmad Seth, announced the verdict, according to reports by television channels. Musharraf is currently in Dubai.
It is the first time in Pakistan’s 72-year history that a military ruler was tried with high treason for a coup through emergency rule after suspending the constitution. Musharraf, as army chief, toppled the civilian government of premier Nawaz Sharif in 1999 and later became the country’s military president.
Musharraf never attended legal proceedings due to what his counsels say is his poor health condition and left Pakistan for medical treatment in 2016.
The court delayed the judgment in November after Prime Minister Imran Khan’s administration and the former military chief requested more time for arguments. An anti-terrorism court has already declared him an absconder and ordered the confiscation of his assets in the murder case of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
