Islamabad High Court has suspended the judgments of 10 people convicted in connection with protests that broke out on May 10, 2023 after the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
A division bench consisting of justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, gave benefit to suspend the judgments and gave bail to the criminal sentences when submitting bail bonds worth RS25,000 each, Express News reported.
By November 2024, an anti-terrorism court had sentenced the criminal sentence to a total of five years and ten months in prison for their alleged role in attacking the police staff and setting a checkpoint against Islamabad’s Faizabad exchange.
The Supreme Court noted in its written order that case registers did not find that any of the criminal sentences were arrested from the protest site.
Defense attorneys claimed that the trial had already acquitted the accused of terrorism and had instead convicted them of minor offenses.
“The defendants were not caught from the crime scene, yet they were convicted,” the court observed.
However, the prosecution claimed that the judicial court had sentenced the criminal sentences on the basis of forensic and CCTV recordings.
The prosecution also opposed the suspensions and maintained that the guilty verdict was supported by available evidence.
The indictment revealed that five of the 10 convicted persons were Afghan citizens. The court ordered the defendant to submit original identity documents to the Deputy Department of Verification.
“In the case of Afghan citizenship, the Deputy Governor retains the documents,” the court gave up.
The criminal sentences have been required to appear before the court for all future hearings as the appeal process continues.
