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Pakistan court orders Musharraf investigated for detaining judges

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] A Pakistani court on Monday directed police to open an investigation into allegations that former president Pervez Musharraf illegally detained 60 members of the judiciary after declaring emergency rule in November 2007. The order was issued by Islamabad District and Sessions Judge Akmal Raza in response to a complaint filed by lawyer Aslam Ghuman. Ghuman claims that Musharraf illegally confined more than 60 judges, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, to their homes, causing widespread protests from the Pakistani legal community. This is the first court-ordered police investigation against Musharraf, who is currently in London and could eventually face treason charges. Last month, the Supreme Court of Pakistan declared that Musharraf's declaration of emergency rule violated the Constitution of Pakistan. Musharraf resigned from office last August in order to avoid impeachment proceedings by the country's parliament. Earlier that month, the country's coalition government said that it would push to impeach Musharraf because he had given a "clear commitment" to step down from office after his party was defeated in parliamentary elections. In June 2008, former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif called for Musharraf to be tried for treason, labeling him a traitor disloyal to Pakistan and saying he should be punished for the "damage" that he had done to the country in the years since he led a military coup and unseated Sharif in 1999.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on August 10, 2009 (boomark / email).