The National Assembly approved on Thursday “International Court of Justice (Review and Re-consideration) Ordinance, 2020” aimed at giving foreigners the right to appeal military court convictions in the high courts.
The bill was presented by Law Minister Farogh Naseem. It now is tabled in the Senate and if it gets passed it will become law. The proposed law will allow foreign nationals to file an appeal themselves or through their country’s mission against their military court convictions.
The new law will allow Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav to appeal his conviction in the civilian court. In its verdict in 2019, the International Court of Justice had directed Pakistan to review and reconsider his conviction.
Jadhav, a serving commander of the Indian Navy and a spy of India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), was arrested in Balochistan in 2016. In his trial at a military court, he had confessed to his involvement in acts of terrorism and was sentenced to death in 2017.
