Pakistan army gives retired officer 14 years jail for ‘inciting sedition’ among personnel

KARACHI: A retired military officer, Lt. Col. Akbar Hussain, was convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison for “inciting sedition among army personnel,” the Pakistan army’s media wing said in a statement on Tuesday. 

Hussain was convicted in May after a military court trial under the Pakistan Army Act, 1952, and he was stripped of his rank on July 26, the military added. 

“The court of competent jurisdiction adjudged him ‘guilty’ of the offense charged, through due judicial process and awarded the punishment of 14 years rigorous imprisonment on 10th May 2024,” the army said in a statement. 

The statement said two other retired officers, Major Adil Farooq Raja and Captain Haider Raza Mehdi, were convicted and sentenced last year through the Field General Court Martial on “charges of inciting sedition among army personnel from discharge of duties and violation of the provisions of Official Secrets Act, 1923 related to espionage and acts prejudicial to the safety and interest of the State.”

“The court of competent jurisdiction had convicted and adjudged both Adil Farooq Raja and Haider Raza Mehdi on the date of 7th and 9th October 2023, through due judicial process, with the punishments awarded as 14 and 12 years of rigorous imprisonment respectively and forfeiture of rank of both individuals with effect from 21 November 2023,” the statement concluded. 

The Pakistan army rarely shares details of military court trials. 

In 2019, the military said it was conducting court-martial proceedings against two senior officers on charges of espionage but gave no details on the identity or rank of the officers nor what country or organization they were alleged to be spying for.

In 2012, a Pakistan military court sentenced five army officers to prison for having ties with the Hizb-ut-Tahrir fundamentalist group.