DUBAI, UAE - MARCH 24: Former Pakistani president, Pervez Musharraf salutes as he arrives to brief media and supporters during a press conference ahead of his return, at the Dubai APML party headquarters on March 24, 2013 in Dubai United Arab Emirates. The former Pakistani president and military ruler is returning to Pakistan after 4 years of self-imposed exile to participate in historic elections in May. Mr Musharraf has been granted protective bail in several cases, including conspiracy to murder which has paved his way allowing for his return. (Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)
PHOTO:
Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images Europe/Getty Images
Now playing
01:33
Former Pakistan President Musharraf sentenced to death
chance pkg
PHOTO:
CNN
Now playing
02:47
Ex-Russian oil tycoon: This is the price for opposing Putin
Biden Asia challenge military power struggle China Watson pkg intl hnk vpx _00031503.png
Now playing
03:22
With a more assertive China, Biden faces growing tensions in Asia
Survivor sounds alarm over 'echoes of the Holocaust'
Biden US China tech war Wang pkg intl hnk vpx_00010025.png
Now playing
02:37
US-China tech rivalry will likely continue under Biden presidency. Here's why
PHOTO:
CNN
Now playing
02:27
Young Russians emboldened to speak up against Putin
A year after the first coronavirus lockdown enveloped Wuhan, China, Chinese officials have been cracking down on citizen journalists who risked their freedoms to reveal and preserve the truth about the initial outbreak. CNN's David Culver speaks with Chen Kun, who fled the country after his younger brother was arrested for preserving an important internet database of news archives.
PHOTO:
CNN
Now playing
04:28
Beijing cracks down on citizen journalists who blew whistle on Covid-19
screengrab farmers protest republic day 2
PHOTO:
ANI via Reuters
Now playing
02:34
Video shows police clash with farmers on Republic Day
protests russia alexey navalny putin response chance pkg vpx_00022522.png
Now playing
03:19
Kremlin tries to blame US for massive Russian protests
Now playing
01:01
Watch London police break up an illegal rave
Russia protests Alexey Navalny Putin Pleitgen pkg vpx _00015627.png
PHOTO:
Reuters
Now playing
02:19
Thousands turn out across Russia to protest Navalny's arrest
PHOTO:
FBK
Now playing
02:52
Kremlin critic's investigation into Putin is going viral in Russia
Images show huge trench being dug by Russian-backed mercenaries
screengrab who independent panel
PHOTO:
EBS+ News
Now playing
02:34
WHO and China criticized for slow Covid-19 responses
Iraqi security forces keep guard the site of a suicide attack in Baghdad, Iraq January 21, 2021. REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani
PHOTO:
Thaier al-Sudani/Reuters
Now playing
02:42
Dozens killed and hundreds injured in Baghdad suicide blasts
PHOTO:
Policia Nacional via Reters
Now playing
00:53
See the aftermath of the Madrid explosion
(CNN) —
Former Pakistan President and military ruler Pervez Musharraf has been sentenced to death in absentia for high treason following a six-year legal case.
A three-member special court in Islamabad on Tuesday convicted Musharraf of violating the constitution by unlawfully declaring emergency rule while he was in power, in a case that had been pending since 2013.
The 76-year-old former leader, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates for more than three years, has the option to appeal the verdict.
Musharraf seized power in a military coup in 1999 and ruled Pakistan as President until 2008.
He was indicted in 2014 on a total of five charges, including three counts of subverting, suspending and changing the country’s constitution, firing Pakistan’s chief justice, and imposing emergency rule.
It’s the first time in Pakistan’s history that an army chief has been tried and found guilty of treason. Under Pakistan’s constitution, high treason is a crime that carries the death penalty or life imprisonment.
The special court ruled on the death sentence by a two to one majority, with one of the three judges not backing the death sentence but agreeing on a conviction.
Musharraf has been living in Dubai since 2016 after Pakistan’s Supreme Court lifted a travel ban allowing him to leave the country to seek medical treatment. From his hospital bed in Dubai earlier this month, the former leader said in a video statement that he was innocent and the treason case was “baseless.”
Photos: Photos: Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf —
Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf speaks in London in 2010. Musharraf led Pakistan from 1999 to 2008, when he resigned and went into exile after being charged of violating the country's constitution in 2007. He returned in 2013, intending to run in national elections, but soon found himself entangled in legal trouble again.
PHOTO:
Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Photos: Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf —
Musharraf, left, takes the presidential oath of office in Islamabad, Pakistan, on June 20, 2001. Musharraf appointed himself president after leading a successful coup against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 1999. He would also remain head of the army.
PHOTO:
SAEED KHAN/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Photos: Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf —
Musharraf shakes hands with military officials in 2001.
PHOTO:
stringer/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Photos: Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf —
Musharraf speaks in 2002 at an event in Washington hosted by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
PHOTO:
SHAWN THEW/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Photos: Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf —
Musharraf sits with his wife, Begum Sehba, at their residence in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, in 2002.
PHOTO:
Paula Bronstein/Getty Images
Photos: Photos: Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf —
Former French President Jacques Chirac speaks with Musharraf at the Elysee Palace in Paris in 2003.
PHOTO:
PATRICK KOVARIK/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Photos: Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf —
Musharraf salutes before his speech at the United Nations General Assembly in 2003.
PHOTO:
TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Photos: Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf —
Musharraf, then-U.S. President George W. Bush and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai stand in the Rose Garden of the White House as Bush delivers remarks in 2006.
PHOTO:
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Photos: Photos: Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf —
Musharraf speaks to the press in November 2007, days after he declared a state of emergency in the country. Musharraf suspended Pakistan's constitution, imposed restrictions on the press and postponed the January 2008 elections. He said he did so to stabilize the country and to fight rising Islamist extremism. His action drew sharp criticism from democracy advocates, and Pakistanis openly called for his ouster.
PHOTO:
FAROOQ NAEEM/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Photos: Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf —
Musharraf speaks at a change-of-command ceremony in Rawalpindi on November 28, 2007. Musharraf stepped down as leader of Pakistan's army a day before he was to be sworn in as president for the third time.
PHOTO:
John Moore/Getty Images
Photos: Photos: Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf —
Men in Quetta, Pakistan, watch as Musharraf announces his resignation as president on August 18, 2008. A month earlier, the Pakistan Supreme Court issued notice that Musharraf would have to defend himself on charges of violating the constitution by declaring emergency rule in November 2007.
PHOTO:
BANARAS KHAN/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Photos: Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf —
Musharraf salutes as he arrives at a news conference in London in 2010. Musharraf fled to the United Kingdom instead of facing the charges against him in Pakistan.
PHOTO:
BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Photos: Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf —
Musharraf greets supporters outside the airport in Karachi, Pakistan, on March 24, 2013. With three court cases pending against him, Musharraf returned to Pakistan after four years of exile. He was granted bail in advance of his arrival, so he was not arrested.
PHOTO:
ASIF HASSAN/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: Photos: Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf —
Musharraf is escorted by soldiers as he arrives at an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad on April 20, 2013. A Pakistani court rejected Musharraf's request for a bail extension, and Musharraf was put under house arrest.
PHOTO:
AAMIR QURESHI/AFP/Getty Images
In a Tuesday statement, the media wing of the Pakistan Armed Forces said the special court’s sentence had been received “with a lot of pain and anguish.”
Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that Musharraf “can surely never be a traitor” and that he had served the country for over 40 years.
“The due legal process seems to have been ignored including (the) constitution of special court, (the) denial of fundamental right of self-defense, undertaking individual specific proceedings and concluding the case in haste,” the statement said.
It added that the Armed Forces of Pakistan “expect that justice will be dispensed in line with the Constitution of Islamic Republic.”
Web of court cases
Musharraf earlier went into exile in 2008, returning to Pakistan in 2013 with the aim of running in the country’s national elections. But his plans unraveled as he became entangled in a web of court cases relating to his time in power.
In 2007, Musharraf declared a state of emergency, suspended Pakistan’s constitution, replaced the chief judge and blacked out independent TV outlets.
Musharraf said he did so to stabilize the country and to fight rising Islamist extremism. The action drew sharp criticism from the United States and democracy advocates. Pakistanis openly called for his removal.
Under pressure from the West, Musharraf later lifted the state of emergency and called elections in which his party fared badly.
Musharraf stepped down in August 2008 after the governing coalition began taking steps to impeach him. Prosecutors say Musharraf violated Pakistan’s constitution by imposing the state of emergency.
