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The ex-military ruler of Pakistan Mr. Pervez Musharraf was sentenced to death on Tuesday in the high treason case for imposing emergency in Pakistan. A three-member bench of the special court, headed by Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth, handed Musharraf, 76, death sentence in the long-drawn high treason case against Pervez Musharraf.

In March 2016 the former Army chief left for Dubai for medical treatment and has not returned since, citing security and health reasons. Musharraf, who is currently in Dubai, is facing treason charges for suspending the Constitution and imposing emergency rule in 2007, a punishable offence for which he was indicted in 2014.

The week before, a special court ordered 76-year-old Pervez Musharraf to record a statement in the treason case by December 5 after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had stopped the special court from issuing the verdict on November 28 after hearing the petitions submitted by Musharraf and the Pakistan government.

Musharraf maintained that he is unable to return to Pakistan due to his deteriorating health, numerous life-threatening illnesses and his elderly mother.

Musharraf had filmed from his hospital bed a video message in which he said he was ready to record his statement in the case. “A judicial commission will come here and hear me out,” Musharraf said. “It has to see my health condition and make a decision. I then have to hear the commission with my attorney in court.”

ABOUT THE CASE

The former military dictator’s high-trait court on November 3, 2007, filed during the previous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government for clamping the state of emergency, had been pending since 2013.

Musharraf was arrested in December 2013 in the treason trial. On 31 March 2014, Musharraf was arrested and the prosecution submitted all the evidence in September the same year to the special court.

Yet due to litigation at appeal forums, the former military dictator’s trial proceeded and he fled Pakistan for medical treatment in March 2016 with the nod of higher courts as well as the Ministry of the Interior.