Key points
Lawyer says appeal will be filed within days
• Defence claims family and legal team were not informed before judgement
• Opposition party sees case as part of broader pressure on its leader, Imran Khan
ISLAMABAD: The former head of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Faiz Hameed, will appeal a 14-year sentence handed down by a military court on charges ranging from abuse of authority to political interference, his lawyer said on Friday.
According to the Supreme Court of Pakistan documents, as reported by AFP, Hameed was detained in 2024 following accusations that he had raided businesses owned by a real estate developer in a bid to exert pressure. The army announced on Thursday that a military court convicted him on multiple counts, including engaging in political activities and causing wrongful loss to individuals, leading to a term of rigorous imprisonment.
His lawyer, Ali Ashfaq, told AFP that the defence would challenge the ruling soon. Ashfaq said he had yet to receive a copy of the judgment and that the defence team and the family were not informed of the verdict in advance, claiming this prevented them from attending the proceedings. He added that his client rejected the allegations from the outset and viewed the process as a ‘sham’. Lawyer Ashfaq insisted that the allegation of political activity against his client was baseless.
