The Lahore High Court's (LHC) Rawalpindi bench Wednesday accepted the Pakistan government's appeal challenging a stay order issued against the execution of five death row convicts who were involved in an attack on a military camp near Gujrat city in Punjab province in 2012.
Earlier, the LHC had decided to stay the executions. However, the court Wednesday took back its decision after terrorism charges against the convicts were proven, and maintained the sentence handed down by a military court for execution of the prisoners, Dawn online reported.
The five convicts are Ihsan Azeem, Asif Idrees, Amir Yousaf, Kamran Aslam and Umar Nadeem.
Last year, a military court had convicted them under the Pakistan Army Act, 1952. They are currently incarcerated at Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore.
Earlier this week, Laeeq Khan Swati, counsel for the condemned men, had argued that the military authorities had not provided his clients with documents relating to the proceedings of the trial.
Convict Ishan Azeem's mother had filed an appeal in the LHC's Rawalpindi bench against the military court's decision.
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On the other hand, Chaudhry Masroof, counsel for the federal government, had also filed an application for a revision of the stay order before the LHC. In the application, the government had maintained that the counsel for the condemned men made a false statement before the court and concealed facts.
This appeal by counsel for the federal court was accepted by the LHC Wednesday, while the application by Ihsan Azeem's mother was rejected.