Yoav Lemmer—AFP
A tenth militant has been sentenced to life imprisonment, according to military spokesman.
The Pakistan Army on Monday announced the death penalty for nine hardline militants linked to a series of terrorist attacks across the country.
The men were convicted by military courts established as part of a crackdown following a massacre at a school in Peshawar on Dec. 16 last year, in which more than 150 people, mostly children, were killed. Parliament approved the use of the courts for the next two years, and the Supreme Court endorsed the move last month, rejecting claims it was unconstitutional.
“The Army chief confirms death sentence of nine hardcore terrorists involved in killing civilians/law enforcement agencies personnel in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province and sectarian killings” in Balochistan province, military spokesman Major General Asim Bajwa said in a tweet.
The militants were also involved in several other incidents including attacks on senior Army officials and a mosque in Nowshera.
“One terrorist [was] awarded life imprisonment,” Bajwa added.
Later, the military issued a statement saying the nine convicts awarded death sentences—identified as Said Zaman Khan, Obaid Ullah, Mehmood Khan, Qari Zubair Muhammad, Rab Nawaz, Muhammad Sohail, Muhammad Imran, Aslam Khan and Jameel-ur-Rehman—belonged to banned outfits including the Pakistan-administered Kashmir-based Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.
Convict Jamshed Raza, who was awarded life imprisonment, belonged to Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami, it added.
The Army announced the first verdicts and sentences from the new courts in April when six militants were condemned to death and another jailed for life, all on terrorism charges. On Aug. 13, it announced death sentences for seven more militants for their involvement in the Peshawar school massacre and an attack on a bus carrying members of the minority Shia Ismaili community.