ISLAMABAD: According to The News, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, the senior puisne judge of the Supreme Court, has criticized political trials, calling them a potent and notorious “judicial tool” used by authoritarian governments to crush opposition and stifle political dissent.
In a seven-page supplemental note issued on Tuesday in response to the presidential referral on former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s death sentence, Justice Mansoor stated, “These trials often violate due process and fair trial requirements to produce politically desirable outcomes.”
On March 6, 2024, the Supreme Court’s nine-member panel heard the case and concluded that Bhutto, the founder of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), had not been given a fair trial.
Bhutto’s murder trial, according to Justice Shah, is a quintessential example of a political trial.
