Yoav Lemmer—AFP
Convicts were involved in sectarian killings and several terror activities, according to reports.
Pakistan’s Army on Wednesday announced the death penalty for five militants linked to a series of terrorist attacks across the country, the latest terror-related sentencing by the controversial military courts.
The men were convicted by military courts established as part of a crackdown on militancy following a massacre at a school in Peshawar on Dec. 16 last year, in which more than 150 people, mostly children, were killed. Parliament approved the use of the courts for the next two years, and the Supreme Court endorsed the move last month, rejecting claims it was unconstitutional.
The Army chief “confirms death sentence of another 5 hardcore terrorists involved in killings [of a] Lahore advocate, Quetta sectarian killing,” military spokesman Major General Asim Bajwa said in a brief tweet, without giving further details. The militants were also reportedly involved in several other incidents including a jailbreak in Bannu in 2012 and attack on a girl’ school and a polio team in Khyber. “6th terrorist [was] awarded life imprisonment,” Bajwa added.
The Army announced the first verdicts and sentences from the new courts in April. Six militants were condemned to death and another jailed for life, all on terrorism charges, though scant details of the offences and trials were given.
On Aug. 13, it announced death sentences for seven more militants for their involvement in the Peshawar school massacre and an attack on a bus of the minority Ismaili community.