The Supreme Court has indicted cleric Iftikharuddin Mirza for being contemptuous and using scandalous language against the judiciary, especially Justice Qazi Faez Isa, in a video that went viral last month.
As an SC bench headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed took up the case, the suspect 'unconditionally apologised' to the court. Mirza asked for forgiveness and said he was ashamed of the remarks he made in the video. "I ask forgiveness from you as a Muslim," he said.
According to Mirza, the video was uploaded without his knowledge.
Furthermore, the court also expressed dissatisfaction with the reports of the Federal Investigation Agency and the Counter-Terrorism Department in the case. The bench said that these reports didn't contain any concrete and added that the issue did not pertain to only Justice Isa, but the entire judiciary.
In a video that had gone viral, Mirza had called for the public execution of SC judge Qazi Faez Isa, former PM Nawaz Sharif and President Zardari for being allegedly corrupt.
As an SC bench headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed took up the case, the suspect 'unconditionally apologised' to the court. Mirza asked for forgiveness and said he was ashamed of the remarks he made in the video. "I ask forgiveness from you as a Muslim," he said.
According to Mirza, the video was uploaded without his knowledge.
However, the chief justice was unmoved. He expressed his displeasure over the language used by Mirza. "This is not a case of forgiveness. You cannot ridicule the judiciary in this way," he added. "You were using such [derogatory] language from the Minbar of a mosque, the kind that even an illiterate person wouldn't use," he said.
The CJP said forgiving Mirza for this offence would be akin to the failure of the [crimina;l] system.
The bench said that it was not satisfied with the written responses submitted by Mirza and asked him to respond to his charge-sheet within seven days.
Furthermore, the court also expressed dissatisfaction with the reports of the Federal Investigation Agency and the Counter-Terrorism Department in the case. The bench said that these reports didn't contain any concrete and added that the issue did not pertain to only Justice Isa, but the entire judiciary.
In a video that had gone viral, Mirza had called for the public execution of SC judge Qazi Faez Isa, former PM Nawaz Sharif and President Zardari for being allegedly corrupt.