Justice Faisal Arab storms out of court during Musharraf treason hearing

ISLAMABAD: The treason trial against former president Pervez Musharraf took an unusual turn on Thursday when Justice Faisal Arab walked out of the courtroom after his bench was repeatedly accused of not being neutral, Express News reported. Earlier it was unclear whether he would officially stepped down from his responsibility as head judge of the Special Court but later reports confirmed that he will remain part of the three-member bench that has been hearing the case. Musharraf’s lawyers have accused Arab’s three-member bench of bias multiple times and also called for the removal of Akram Sheikh as state prosecutor. The court had reserved its decision on Sheikh’s appointment on March 26. During today’s hearing, the former president’s lawyers said that Sheikh should not be allowed to speak on the case until the court announces its decision regarding his appointment. Responding to this demand, Arab said the prosecutor will be allowed to speak in court, to which Musharraf’s advocates reiterated that they were not happy with the Special Court bench and that it was not neutral. “The Special Court had already issued an order that this bench will try Musharraf and that decision should be respected,” Arab said. Arab then said that if the lawyers think the bench was not neutral, he will separate himself from the bench. The head judge walked out of the courtroom after these statements and was followed by the other members of the bench. Musharraf’s advocate Ahmed Raza Kasuri said “[Musharraf’s lawyers] very politely said that we are not comfortable with these proceedings.” “Reacting emotionally, Justice Arab said that he cannot carry on with these proceedings if the defence lawyers are not happy,” Kasuri told media in Islamabad.
Justice Faisal Arab recuses himself from... by TheExpressNews Analysis Constitutional expert and former law minister SM Zafar said that if Arab is officially no longer on the bench, the two remaining judges cannot continue to hear the case in his absence. He stated that the government will have to issue a notification to appoint a new bench to this case. The two remaining judges can also be appointed to the new bench, but they cannot continue the hearings unless a third judge is present, he added. Zafar said that all the verdicts issued by the court up to this point will still hold. However, he stated that the decision on Sheikh’s appointment will no longer have any standing as it was not announced during the hearings. Former chief justice Saeeduzaman Siddiqui said if the decision on Sheikh’s appointment was put in writing, the court’s judgement will still stand.