Connect with us

AFP

Pakistan ex-PM Khan due back in court after week of unrest

Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan is set to appear in court again to face fresh charges related to the violence that followed his arrest on graft charges. The arrest sparked deadly civil unrest, prompting supporters to rampage through cities.

Khan will seek bail in the new cases, including a charge linked to the death of a supporter.

The country has been embroiled in political turmoil, with Khan clashing with the military and facing numerous legal cases, which he considers politically motivated.

Published

1 year ago

on

LAHORE, PAKISTAN — Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan was due back in court on Monday after his arrest and brief detention last week sparked days of deadly civil unrest.

Khan was arrested on graft charges on Tuesday, prompting supporters to rampage through cities across Pakistan before the Supreme Court declared his detention illegal three days later.

In Islamabad, hundreds of supporters of the ruling alliance of coalition parties also began to gather on Monday for a protest against the Supreme Court’s decision to release Khan.

The former international cricket star was due to return to the Lahore High Court, in his home town, to face fresh charges alleging he planned the violence that followed his arrest, one of his lawyers said.

“Khan will be appearing in court today for cases registered against him related to the incidents of 9 May to 12 May,” lawyer Intazar Hussain Panjutha told AFP.

At least nine people were killed, hundreds of police officers injured and more than 7,000 people detained in last week’s unrest before Khan was released on bail on Friday, authorities said.

Khan will again seek bail in the new cases, which include a charge relating to the death of a supporter of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party in March.

“He already has protective bail for 10 days in the rest of the known cases against him,” Panjutha said.

An embargo issued by the Islamabad High Court preventing Khan’s arrest on any known cases was also due to expire on Monday.

Khan, 70, said on Twitter he expected to be arrested again.

“Using (the) pretext of violence while I was inside the jail, they have assumed the role of judge, jury and executioner,” he wrote of the current government.

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, who has vowed Khan will be rearrested, told reporters on Sunday the “terrorism and mobbing was all preplanned and this was done by Khan”.

Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi was also due in court to seek bail in the same graft case for which Khan was arrested last week, PTI officials said.

‘Anger and anguish’

Parties that ousted Khan in a no-confidence vote in April 2022 planned protests on Monday against the Supreme Court’s decision to grant Khan’s release.

“People want to come in very large numbers because of a deep sense of anger and anguish,” Sanaullah said Sunday.

There was a heavy security presence in the capital on Monday, and Islamabad police said some protestors had entered the so-called red zone housing the Supreme Court.

Khan has become snarled in dozens of legal cases since he was ousted.

Analysts say legal hurdles are often used to discourage dissent in Pakistan and Khan dismisses the cases as politically motivated ahead of elections due no later than October.

Khan has waged an unprecedented campaign of defiance against Pakistan’s army, which has ruled the nation for nearly half of its 75-year history and continues to wield massive influence.

When Khan surged into office in 2018, most understood it was with the backing of the generals. Analysts likewise said when he left power it was because he had fallen out of favour with the top brass.

In opposition Khan has made explosive claims about the military’s involvement in politics, including that they plotted a November assassination attempt in which he was shot in the leg while he campaigned for fresh polls.

His arrest last Tuesday came just hours after he repeated the allegations at a rally.

— AFP

Related Topics:
Continue Reading
1 Comment
Subscribe
Notify of
1 Comment
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

AFP

Singapore hangs 14th drug convict since last year

Singapore executed Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, convicted of drug trafficking, amid a resumption of executions in 2022. Another woman prisoner, Saridewi Djamani, faces execution.

Amnesty International urged Singapore to halt the executions, questioning the deterrent effect of the death penalty.

Published

1 year ago

on

26 July 2023

By

SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE — Singapore on Wednesday hanged a local man convicted of drug trafficking, officials said, two days before the scheduled execution of the first woman prisoner in the city-state in nearly 20 years.

Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, convicted and sentenced to death in 2017 for trafficking “not less than 49.98 grams” (1.76 ounces) of heroin, was executed at Changi Prison, the Central Narcotics Bureau said in a statement.

The 57-year-old was the 14th convict sent to the gallows since the government resumed executions in March 2022 after a two-year pause during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hussain’s previous appeals against his conviction and sentence had been dismissed, and a petition for presidential clemency was also denied.

A woman drug convict, 45-year-old Saridewi Djamani, is scheduled to be hanged on Friday, according to the local rights group Transformative Justice Collective (TJC).

She was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.

If carried out, Djamani would be the first woman executed in Singapore since 2004, when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, according to TJC activist Kokila Annamalai.

Singapore has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws — trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis or over 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Singapore to halt the executions, saying there was no evidence the death penalty acted as a deterrent to crime.

“It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement.

Singapore, however, insists that the death penalty has helped make it one of Asia’s safest countries.

Among those hanged since last year was Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, whose execution sparked a global outcry, including from the United Nations and British tycoon Richard Branson, because he was deemed to have a mental disability.

— AFP

Continue Reading

AFP

Singapore to execute first woman in nearly 20 years: rights groups

Singapore set to execute two drug convicts, including first woman in 20 years, despite rights groups’ calls to stop.

Published

1 year ago

on

25 July 2023

By

SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE — Singapore is set to hang two drug convicts this week, including the first woman to be sent to the gallows in nearly 20 years, rights groups said Tuesday, while urging the executions be halted.

Local rights organisation Transformative Justice Collective (TJC) said a 56-year-old man convicted of trafficking 50 grams (1.76 ounces) of heroin is scheduled to be hanged on Wednesday at the Southeast Asian city-state’s Changi Prison.

A 45-year-old woman convict who TJC identified as Saridewi Djamani is also set to be sent to the gallows on Friday. She was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.

If carried out, she would be the first woman to be executed in Singapore since 2004 when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, said TJC activist Kokila Annamalai.

TJC said the two prisoners are Singaporeans and their families have received notices setting the dates of their executions.

Prison officials have not answered emailed questions from AFP seeking confirmation.

Singapore imposes the death penalty for certain crimes, including murder and some forms of kidnapping.

It also has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws: trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis and 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.

At least 13 people have been hanged so far since the government resumed executions following a two-year hiatus in place during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Singapore to halt the impending executions.

“It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty’s death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement.

“There is no evidence that the death penalty has a unique deterrent effect or that it has any impact on the use and availability of drugs.

“As countries around the world do away with the death penalty and embrace drug policy reform, Singapore’s authorities are doing neither,” Sangiorgio added.

Singapore insists that the death penalty is an effective crime deterrent.

— AFP

Continue Reading

Trending