Pakistan ordered to halt ‘spy’ execution

The UN’s top court ordered Pakistan to stay the execution of an Indian national convicted of spying, in a decision hailed by New Delhi.

Judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in a unanimous and binding decision yesterday that Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav must not be executed by Islamabad until they have had time to pass final judgment in the case.

Jadhav was arrested in the restive Balochistan in southwestern Pakistan in March last year.

Pakistani officials claim he has confessed to spying for Indian intelligence services.

He was convicted by a military court last month and sentenced to death.

But India has maintained he is not a spy, and lodged a case against Pakistan earlier this month, accusing Islamabad of violating the Vienna Convention by failing to provide him with consular access, as well as breaking international human rights law.

New Delhi appealed for the court to impose emergency measures to suspend Jadhav’s execution until the legal battle in The Hague has concluded.

“Pakistan shall take all measures at its disposal to ensure that Mr Jadhav is not executed pending the final decision in these proceedings,” the court’s president, Ronny Abraham, said.

The case has highlighted the recent sharp upsurge in tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals.