ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Supreme Court delivered a reserved opinion on the conviction, sentence, and execution of late Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on Wednesday, stating that he was denied a “fair trial”.
On Monday, a nine-member bench of Pakistan’s Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, reserved its decision on the 2011 presidential reference seeking to revisit the sentence and execution of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) founder and former Prime Minister Bhutto.
The bench also includes Justices Sardar Tariq Masood, Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Yahya Afridi, Amin-ud-Din Khan, Jamal Khan Mandokhel, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, and Musarrat Hilali.
“Zulfikar Ali Bhutto did not receive a fair trial, and it did not comply with the constitutional requirement of due process,” remarked CJP Isa in announcing the short order.
The court’s judgment comes nearly 12 years after former president and PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari sought a presidential referral to reconsider the sentencing and execution of the PPP founder and former prime minister.
Bhutto was hanged on April 4, 1979, following a Supreme Court conviction in a murder case that his party referred to as “judicial murder”.
The reference, filed by Zardari on April 2, 2011, under Article 186 of the Constitution, was taken up by the Supreme Court’s 11-member bigger bench, chaired by former Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
