Pakistan’s top court rejects FETO review petition

By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AA) - Pakistan's top court on Tuesday rejected a FETO petition for a final review on the 2018 verdict over handing over the terror group linked schools to Turkey’s Maarif Foundation.

The review petition -- which was filed by the Fetullah Terrorist Organization, the terror group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey, last month -- was heard by a bench comprising of Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan and Justice Maqbool Baqir.

"Today the Honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan has rejected the FETO review petition which they filed against the top court over last year's verdict" Mohammad Sohail Sajid, a local lawyer who filed the petition against FETO-linked schools in 2018, told Anadolu Agency.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan also upheld its verdict that FETO is a terrorist organization declared by the Turkish Parliament and further recognized by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and Asian Parliament Assembly.

In December, the Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered the government to declare FETO a terror group and to ban its affiliated schools in the country.

The top court also ordered the transfer of FETO's "movable and immovable assets", schools, colleges, education centers and other similar entities to Turkey’s Maarif Foundation.

FETO has a considerable presence abroad, including private schools which serve as a revenue stream for the terror group.