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Court orders 5-yr jail term to Pak Gen's son for asking Army chief to resign: Report
The military court convicted Hassan Askari, son of Maj Gen (R) Zafar Mehdi Askari, under treason charges for his criticism over the Pakistan Army chief's extension.
A Pakistan military court has pronounced a five-year prison term to the son of a retired major general of the Pakistan Army after he asked Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa to tender his resignation, reported news agency ANI. The convict purportedly wrote a letter expressing his apprehension on the extension given to General Bajwa and asked for his resignation, ANI reported, citing The News International report which in turn relied on BBC Urdu Service.
The military court convicted Hassan Askari, son of Maj Gen (R) Zafar Mehdi Askari, under treason charges for his criticism over the Pakistan Army chief's extension. Askari is a computer engineer and he reportedly wrote the letter in September last year.
Askari was represented by an officer deputed by the Pakistan military court in a trial conducted in July this year, according to The News. During the trial, his father complained he was facing difficulties in meeting his son who was lodged at the high-security prison in Sahiwal.
In January, the case was taken up by Islamabad high court which directed holding the treason trial in camera.
According to a report by news agency PTI, there was no official announcement about the trial and the sentence, and the details came out in a petition recently filed by the father of the convict with the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court.
In his plea, the father has challenged the sentence, asserting that his son was not provided a lawyer of his choice during the trial. He also urged the authorities to shift his son to Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi. It could not be known immediately when the high court will hear the petition.
(with agency inputs)
