Following a bill passed by the Pakistani parliament, Kulbhushan Jadhav, the Indian national on death row in Pakistan, can now use the right to appeal the sentence. The bill was passed as ordered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
According to Pakistan, Kulbhushan Jadhav is a spy, while India maintains that he was abducted from Iran while conducting his own business. A military court in Pakistan has given a death sentence to Jadhav in 2017. India had then approached the ICJ and was able to obtain a stay on the Pakistani court order.
In 2020, the Imran Khan government in accordance with the International Court of Justice verdict had presented an ordinance in Pakistan’s National Assembly. Pakistan’s Opposition parties had however opposed this move.
ICJ, based at The Hague, had asked Pakistan in 2019 to ensure “effective review and reconsideration” of the death sentence handed to Jadhav and also given instruction to provide him consular access.
“Pakistan was under an obligation to provide, by means of its own choosing, effective review and reconsideration of the conviction and sentence of Mr. Jadhav, so as to ensure that full weight was given to the effect of the violation of the rights set forth in Article 36 of the Vienna Convention,” ICJ had observed.
