On the first anniversary of the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s ruling that trials of civilians by military courts are constitutional, Isabelle Lassee, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for South Asia, said:
“The Supreme Court’s 2025 decision has fundamentally undermined the right to a fair trial and the right to liberty in Pakistan. Such courts flout virtually every protection guaranteed under international human rights law.
“A civilian before a military court is first subjected to a secret trial without procedural safeguards, conducted by army officials that lack independence and impartiality. If convicted, they are denied the right to appeal, despite orders by the Supreme Court that this protection be guaranteed. Those serving convictions, including 9 May protesters still serving their sentences and activists such as Idris Khattak, are being deprived of the right to have their convictions and sentences independently and impartially reviewed. They are not given access to the court’s reasoned judgements and, in many instances, they have not been provided with any written order at all, as part of a deliberate tactic to prolong their unlawful detention.
Such courts flout virtually every protection guaranteed under international human rights law
Isabelle Lassee, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for South Asia
“Amnesty International calls on the Pakistani authorities to end this injustice by banning military trials of civilians and overturning all unlawful civilian convictions by these courts. Authorities must ensure that all those convicted are provided with a meaningful right to appeal to a competent, independent and impartial tribunal.”
Background
On 7 May 2025, the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan overturned a previous Supreme Court ruling from October 2023 that stated that the trial before a military court of civilians involved in the 9 May protest was unconstitutional and struck down sections 2(1)(d), section 59(4)(i) and 59(4)(ii) of the Pakistan Army Act, 1952.
While validating military trials of civilians, the Supreme Court stated in its majority decision and detailed judgment that the legislature must pass a law to provide an “independent right of appeal to the High Courts for civilians” convicted by military courts within 45 days of the 7 May 2025 order. Despite this, a year on, Parliament has yet to table or pass any such legislation.
In December 2024, 105 protesters who took part in the 9 May 2023 protests following the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan were convicted by military courts for two to 10 years. Nineteen of them were released on grounds of mercy immediately after and an additional five were released in May 2025 after completing their full two-year sentence. Idris Khattak is a human rights activist who was forcibly disappeared in 2019 and convicted and sentenced to 14 years imprisonment after a secret military trial in 2021.