Former Pakistan leader Pervez Musharraf sentenced to death

A Pakistani court on Tuesday sentenced former military ruler Pervez Musharraf to death on charges of high treason and subverting the constitution.

Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup and later ruled as president, is expected to challenge the order.

“Pervez Musharraf has been found guilty of Article 6 for violation of the constitution of Pakistan,” Reuters quotes a government law officer Salman Nadeem.

The court analyzed complaints, records, arguments and facts in the case and reached a majority verdict. Two of the three judges gave the decision against Musharraf.

The charges were based on Musharraf’s imposition of a state of emergency in 2007, when he was facing growing opposition to his rule.

The former dictator arrested and sacked the country’s top judges, including the chief justice, who challenged his decision to remain head of the army while also being president.

Musharraf also suspended all civil liberties, human rights and democratic processes from November 2007 to February 2008.

Protests across the country forced him to resign in 2008 to avoid impeachment.

Last month, Musharraf issued a video recording from a hospital bed in Dubai in which he said he was not being given a fair hearing in the case that was filed by the government in 2013.

“I served the nation and made decisions for the betterment of the country,” Musharraf said in the video clip.