US, UK criticise Pakistan over protest convictions in military courts

The United States and the United Kingdom have expressed deep concern over the recent handing down of convictions by Pakistani military courts to 25 civilian supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan over their alleged involvement in riots last year.

The convictions had previously also been criticised by the European Union and domestic human rights activists.

“The United States is deeply concerned that Pakistani civilians have been sentenced by a military tribunal for their involvement in protests on May 9, 2023. These military courts lack judicial independence, transparency, and due process guarantees,” according to a statement released by the State Department on Monday.

It asked Pakistan to respect the right to a fair trial and due process.

In London, the Foreign Office said that “while the UK respects Pakistan’s sovereignty over its own legal proceedings, trying civilians in military courts lacks transparency, independent scrutiny and undermines the right to a fair trial. We call on the Government of Pakistan to uphold its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”

The statements were referring to the violence that erupted after Khan’s arrest in Islamabad in May 2023.

The former premier was ousted through a no-confidence vote in the parliament in 2022, and he was convicted of corruption and sentenced in August 2023.

Since then, Khan has been behind bars. Khan’s popular opposition party is in talks with the government to secure his release.

Opposition rejects civilian convictions

The 25 supporters on Monday received prison terms ranging from two years to 10 years, which the army in a statement warned acted as a “stark reminder” for people to "never take the law into their own hands".

Khan's opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, has rejected the convictions of civilians, demanding they should be tried in the normal courts if they were involved in the riots.

There was no response from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's government to the criticism from the US and the UK, but state-run Pakistan Television on Tuesday showed people welcoming the convictions, saying the punishments were given to people who attacked military installations.

Earlier this month, Khan and dozens of others were indicted by a civilian court on charges of inciting people on May 9, 2023, when demonstrators attacked the military’s headquarters in Rawalpindi, stormed an air base in Mianwali in the eastern Punjab province and torched a building housing state-run Radio Pakistan in the northwest.