Pakistan’s former president Pervez Musharraf has been sentenced to death in a high treason case. The retired general was tried in absentia after leaving the country several years ago to undergo medical treatment.
The special court in Islamabad backed capital punishment in a split 2-1 vote. Musharraf, who held the power in Pakistan for a decade, was accused of subverting the Pakistani constitution to keep power.
The court announced its verdict on Tuesday after a weeks-long delay as the Pakistani government and Musharraf’s defense team made a last-ditch attempt to prolong the case, which was launched in 2013. The decision is subject to appeal.
Earlier Musharraf complained from a hospital bed in Dubai, where he’s been living in recent years, that his trial was unfair. The video has been broadcast by Pakistani media. He urged the court to take a statement from him at the hospital and confirm the state of his health.