Executed former Pakistani Premier Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was not given fair trial, says top court

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Pakistan's top court on Wednesday declared that the country's first democratically elected Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was executed in a murder case in 1979, did not get the right to a "fair trial," wrapping up a years-long hearing, a court record said.

The case, what is known as a presidential reference, was filed in June 2011 by Asif Ali Zardari, former president and co-chairman of Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), seeking the Supreme Court's opinion on revisiting the death sentence awarded to Bhutto.

In a unanimous “opinion,” the nine-member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan led by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa declared that Bhutto's conviction did not meet the requirements of a “fair trial and due process.”

While pronouncing its opinion, broadcast live, the court said it is giving its opinion on the reference to correct "mistakes of the past."

A detailed order will be released later.

However, the court said the then-Supreme Court's verdict cannot be reversed.

"The constitution and the law do not provide a mechanism to set aside the judgment whereby Bhutto was convicted and sentenced," the court said.

“The proceedings of the trial by the Lahore High Court and the appeal by the Supreme Court of Pakistan do not meet the requirements of the fundamental right to a fair trial and due process enshrined in Articles 4 and 9 of the Constitution and later guaranteed as a separate and fundamental right under Article 10-A of the Constitution,” the court observed.

Bhutto, who served as the prime minister from 1973 to 1977, was executed by hanging on April 4, 1979, after being convicted of murder by the Lahore High Court. His appeal was subsequently rejected by the Supreme Court.

Bhutto’s elected government was toppled by his hand-picked Army Chief Gen. Zia-ul-Haq in July 1977.​​​​​​​

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the late Bhutto's grandson and PPP chairman, was present in the courtroom and described the unanimous opinion of the top judges as "historic."

"I thank the judges for this historic ruling. I will talk in detail after the release of a detailed order," Bilawal told reporters outside the court.

The PPP has sought the apex court to declare Bhutto's execution a "judicial murder."