Senior politician gets 23 years for treason

A senior opposition politician, detained since late October on a treason charge, was sentenced on Monday to 23 years in jail by a special court, a spokesman for his political party said. Arrested in a late-night raid outside his official residence in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, in October, Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, a member of parliament and the president of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD), had been housed since in a central jail in Rawalpindi, the historic garrison city that nestles close to the capital. He was accused of defaming the army by distributing copies of a letter he claimed to have received in which members of the armed forces reportedly criticised president Pervez Musharraf's role in the US-led war on terror. "I have been told that he has been sentenced for 23 years, along with a fine," Siddiq-ul-Farooq, the spokesman for Hashmi's political party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (a faction of the country's oldest political entity, named after former premier Nawaz Sharif) told IRIN from the northwestern city of Peshawar. Hashmi’s conviction was in no way final since the judgment would be appealed in the High Court, Samina Ahmed, the resident director of the International Crisis Group (ICG) told IRIN in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. “The case should have been tried in open court, all relevant evidence should have been produced by the court, and the press should have had unimpeded access to the court's proceedings,” Ahmed added. The verdict was announced by a lower court judge in the Adiala jail, where the proceedings had been conducted in-camera. The seven counts against Hashmi included sedition, conspiracy and mutiny, Farooq said. DARKEST CHAPTER "This judgement has added the darkest chapter in the history of Pakistan's judiciary. It is assassination of justice and rule of law," Farooq fumed. "We will fight it in the higher courts," he added. But the judgement would not have any impact on the ARD's move to press for democracy, Farooq stressed. "It will add fuel to the fire," he declared. "We will keep on demanding [the restoration of democracy]. This judgement has exposed that, still, it is a military rule and all courts are being dictated. They are not free," he said. Hashmi's daughter, Maimoona, also a parliamentarian told IRIN in Islamabad that false cases had been registered against her father "simply, so that an example could be made of him." "The message is that if you are willing to join hands with the government - or those in power - it doesn't matter if you're corrupt, you'll still get ministries," she said. "But if you're innocent and are trying to represent the rights of the common man, if you're trying to say "no" to military dictatorship and trying to enhance the supremacy of parliament through your efforts, this is what will happen: there will be a trial in jail, you'll be kept in solitary confinement in the security ward [in jail] and you will be handed down these kinds of punishments," she stressed. Hashmi said an appeal would be filed in the high courts after her party's heirarchy had decided on a course of action. "They've given us seven days to file an appeal," she said.