Kulbushan Jadhav’s confession is shown to journalists during a press conference in Islamabad, March 29, 2016. Aamir Qureshi—AFP
World court says ruling will be read out on July 17
The International Court of Justice will give its judgment later this month over India’s bid to remove an alleged spy from death row in Pakistan, the tribunal said on Thursday.
Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav, a former Indian navy officer, was arrested in Pakistan’s Balochistan province in March 2016 on charges of espionage and sentenced to death by a military court.
The Hague-based ICJ, which is the U.N.’s top court, said it “will deliver, on Wednesday July 17, 2019, its Judgment in the Jadhav case (India v. Pakistan).”
The ruling will be read out in public at 1300 GMT, it added.
India insists that Jadhav was not a spy and says he was kidnapped in Pakistan. New Delhi is asking the International Court of Justice to order Islamabad to annul the sentence.
India’s lawyers told the court in February that it was a “farcical case” based on “malicious propaganda,” while Pakistan’s lawyers hit back by accusing Jadhav of “terrorism.” The last hearing coincided with a sharp spike in tensions between the two neighbors after a suicide bombing in restive Kashmir, although relations have since improved.