The United States and the United Kingdom have criticized Pakistan's military courts for trying and convicting 25 civilian supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan for their involvement in protests last year.
The United States and the United Kingdom have expressed deep concern over the recent handing down of convictions by Pakistani military courts to 25 civilian supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan over last year's riots. The United States is deeply concerned that Pakistani civilians have been sentenced by a military tribunal for their involvement in protests on May 9, 2023.
These military courts lack judicial independence, transparency, and due process guarantees, according to a statement released by the State Department on Monday. In London, the Foreign Office said that while the U.K. respects Pakistan’s sovereignty over its own legal proceedings, trying civilians in military courts lacks transparency, independent scrutiny and undermines the right to a fair trial. We call on the Government of Pakistan to uphold its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The statements were referring to the violence that erupted after Khan’s arrest in Islamabad in May 2023. The former premier was ousted through a no-confidence vote in the parliament in 2022, and he was convicted of corruption and sentenced in August 2023. Since then, Khan has been behind bars. Khan’s popular opposition party is in talks with the government to secure his release. The 25 supporters on Monday received prison terms ranging from two years to 10 years, which the army in a statement warned acted as a “stark reminder” for people to never take the law into their own hands. Khan's opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, has rejected the convictions of civilians, demanding they should be tried in the normal courts if they were involved in the riots. There was no response from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's government to the criticism from the U.S. and the U.K
PAKISTAN MILITARY TRIAL IMRAN KHAN US UK HUMAN RIGHTS
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