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Pakistan

Pakistan court calls for ex-leader Musharraf to be hanged, even if he dies before serving death sentence

By Greg Norman Fox News
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Pakistan is going one grisly step further in its vendetta against former President Pervez Musharraf.

A special court on Thursday – days after sentencing Musharraf to death in a treason case – is now calling for him to be hanged outside parliament if he dies before he could serve his sentence, Reuters reported.

“His corpse (should) be dragged to D-Chowk, Islamabad, Pakistan, and be hanged for three days,” the court said in a statement, referring to a traffic circle in the country’s capital.

In this 2013 file photo, Pakistan's former President and military ruler, Pervez Musharraf, addresses his party supporters at his house in Islamabad, Pakistan.

In this 2013 file photo, Pakistan's former President and military ruler, Pervez Musharraf, addresses his party supporters at his house in Islamabad, Pakistan. (AP)

PERVEZ MUSHARRAF SAYS ‘I HAVE BEEN VICTIMIZED’

Musharraf, who has been undergoing medical treatment in Dubai, was sentenced to death in absentia Tuesday on charges of high treason stemming from his decision to suspend the constitution and detain judges in 2007. His lawyers have said they will appeal the verdict.

Legal experts told Reuters that the directive issued by the court Thursday is unconstitutional and mainly symbolic.

It reportedly came after Pakistan's government reviewed the death sentence and found “gaps and weaknesses” in it, according to Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan.

Akhtar Sheikh, a lawyer for former Pakistani military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf, talks to media outside a court following a court decision, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Dec. 17, 2019. The Pakistani court sentenced Musharraf to death in a treason case related to the state of emergency he imposed in 2007 while in power, officials said. Musharraf who is apparently sick and receiving treatment in Dubai where he lives was not present in the courtroom. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Akhtar Sheikh, a lawyer for former Pakistani military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf, talks to media outside a court following a court decision, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Dec. 17, 2019. The Pakistani court sentenced Musharraf to death in a treason case related to the state of emergency he imposed in 2007 while in power, officials said. Musharraf who is apparently sick and receiving treatment in Dubai where he lives was not present in the courtroom. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Musharraf is said to be very ill and unlikely to travel home to face the sentence. Pakistan and the UAE have no extradition treaty and Emirati authorities are unlikely to arrest Musharraf.

If he were to return, however, Musharraf would have the right to challenge his conviction and sentence in court.

Musharraf took power in a 1999 coup but was forced to step down in 2008. The charges have been in place since 2013 and he was allowed to leave on bail in 2016 to seek medical treatment abroad.

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In an infamous purge in 2007, Musharraf imposed a state of emergency and placed several key judges under house arrest in the capital, Islamabad, and elsewhere in Pakistan.

But the move to suspend the constitution backfired and led to widespread protests by the country's powerful legal community. Musharraf left the country soon after.

Fox News’ Edmund DeMarche and the Associated Press contributed to this report.