Pak Sentences Retd Army General To Life Imprisonment For Spying

The Pakistan Army has sentenced Retired Lieutenant General Javed Iqbal to life imprisonment after he was found guilty of espionage following a closed-door military trial.

Two others found guilty of spying in the case were sentenced to death- Retired Brigadier Raja Rizwan and Wasim Akram, a civilian doctor employed by the army organization.

"General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) endorsed punishment to two Army and one civil officer on the charges of espionage/ leakage of sensitive information to foreign agencies prejudice to the national security," the Pakistan Army said in a statement Thursday.

The officers were tried under Pakistan Army Act (PAA) and Official Secret Act by separate Field General Court Martial (FGCM) for separate cases, the statement stated further.

Retd Lieutenant Gen. Javed Iqbal will now serve 14 years of imprisonment in accordance with the Pakistani law.

The army did not reveal the piece of information "leaked" by the three men, and to whom it was disclosed to. It is unclear whether the two military officers had already retired from service, before the case against them began.

Director General ISPR Major General Asif Ghafoor had confirmed the arrests of the senior officers in a press conference on February 22 this year.

"There are two officers who are under military custody on the charges of espionage. The Army chief has ordered Field General Court Marshal for them. Both of these are individual case and are not linked to each other, and there is no network as such," Maj-Gen Ghafoor had said.

"Both of these are individual case and are not linked to each other, and there is no network as such," he had said.

In 2017, the army sentenced Indian naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav to death for spying and allegedly orchestrating gun and bomb attacks targeting civilians and security forces.