A Pakistani court sentenced on Tuesday former military ruler Pervez Musharraf to death on charges of high treason and subverting the constitution, government officials said.
Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup and later ruled as president, is not in Pakistan and was not available for comment on the sentence, handed down by an anti-terrorism court hearing the high treason case.
“Pervez Musharraf has been found guilty of Article 6 for violation of the constitution of Pakistan,” government law officer Salman Nadeem said, according to Reuters.
The court’s full ruling was not available but it said in a summary it had analyzed complaints, records, arguments and facts in the case and had reached a majority verdict, with two of the three judges giving the decision against Musharraf.
The charges stem from Musharraf’s imposition of a state of emergency in 2007, when he was facing growing opposition to his rule.
He resigned in 2008, after a political party that backed him fared poorly in a general election, and he has spent much of the time since then abroad.
Legal experts in Islamabad said Musharraf can challenge the order in the High Court.
