Pakistan's Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Friday confirmed the death sentence of another 12 "hardcore terrorists", involved in heinous offences related to attacking the armed forces, law enforcement personnel, destruction of educational institutions and killing of innocent civilians, the military said.
An Army statement said the convicts were also involved in attacking two major prisons in the cities of Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan in northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in 2012 and 2013 respectively and had freed hundreds of militants.
These convicts were tried by special military courts and they had all admitted their offences before the magistrates and the trial court, Xinhua news agency reported.
The convicts have the right of appeal to the country's President under the law, according to the legal experts. However, the President has previously rejected all mercy petitions in terrorism-related cases.
It is the second time in less than two weeks that the Army chief has confirmed the death penalty of militants. On July 2, General Bajwa had also confirmed the death sentences of another 12 "hardcore" terrorists.
The Army courts were set up after the terrorist attack on an Army school in December 2014 for the speedy trial of terrorism-related accused. Nearly 150 people, almost all of them students, were killed in the attack.
--IANS
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