LONDON: Lawyers for Pakistan’s former president Pervez Musharraf said yesterday a treason charge against him was politically motivated and he would face a “show trial”, urging the UN to intervene.
They also called on the US, Britain and Saudi Arabia to denounce Musharraf’s trial to “repay their debt” for his support to the US-led “war on terror” in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.
Musharraf overthrew the government of current Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a bloodless coup in 1999 and ruled until 2008. His lawyers claim Sharif is using the treason case to get revenge.
The 70-year-old ex-commando, due to appear before a special court on December 24, is the first former military dictator in Pakistan’s history to face trial for treason.
His barrister Steven Kay told a press conference in London the hearing would be a “stage-managed show trial” with the judges picked by political opponents who are in power. “What we have here is a case that has started with the hand-picking of judges by the politicians -- or a politician, the prime minister -- in defiance of any person’s right to a trial that is fair,” Kay said. The trial is an “egregious example of political interference.”
Musharraf returned to Pakistan from self-imposed exile in March and was placed under house arrest. The treason accusation relates to his decision in 2007 to impose emergency rule shortly before the Supreme Court was due to decide on the legality of his re-election as president a month earlier, while he was army chief.
Kay said the judges would be unable to act impartially, particularly since one of them, Faisal Arab, was sacked by Musharraf’s government. “If you’ve been affected by what took place and then you judge it, there is a conflict of interest because you have an interest in getting retribution.”
The legal team has written to UN human rights chief Navi Pillay and UN special rapporteurs, calling for the international body to “urgently intervene and ensure that the former president is not subjected to politically motivated charges”. Barrister Toby Cadman called on Musharraf’s allies in the “war on terror” to support him.
Agencies
