Pakistan has refused to grant Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav the right to appeal against his death sentence, contradicting the directives of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). During a Supreme Court hearing, Pakistan’s Ministry of Defence claimed that the ICJ only ordered consular access for Jadhav and did not mandate the provision of an appeal.
This statement emerged amid hearings related to appeals for those convicted by military courts in connection with the May 9, 2023 violence following the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan. When the court questioned whether military court convicts were being granted appeal rights like Jadhav, the defence ministry responded that only consular access—not appeal—had been granted in his case.
Kulbhushan Jadhav, a retired Indian Navy officer, was abducted from Iran’s Chabahar in 2016 and later arrested by Pakistan on espionage charges. In 2017, a Pakistani military court sentenced him to death, prompting India to approach the ICJ. The court stayed Jadhav’s execution and ordered Pakistan to review the conviction and allow consular access.
