ISLAMABAD, Sept 22: The Supreme Court on Friday commenced hearing of appeals challenging the conviction and sentencing by a military court in cases relating to two attempts on the life of President Pervez Musharraf in Rawalpindi.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and Justice Sayyed Saeed Ashhad, however, adjourned the matter till Monday with an observation that instead of going into the merits the court would first decide whether the superior courts had the jurisdiction to go into appeals against a decision of the military court.

The bench was hearing five appeals moved by 12 appellants, arrested for their involvement in the two abortive assassination bids on the life of the president.

Advocate Col (retd) Malik Mohammad Akram and Hashmat Habib are representing the appellants.

Appellant Naek Arshad Mehmood was sentenced to death by a court martial for his involvement in an assassination bid on President Pervez Musharraf on December 25, 2003. Rana Naveed and Amir Sohail, who jointly filed the petition, had challenged the decision of the military court of appeal which converted their sentence into death for involvement in the second assassination bid on the life of the president. The military court had awarded life sentence to Rana Naveed while a 20-year jail term to Amir Sohail.

Zubair Ahmed, Rashid Qureshi, Ghulam Sarwar Bhatti and Ikhlas Ahmed, presently confined in the district jail Attock, were arrested during December 2003 and January 2004 on the charges of their involvement in the assassination attempts.

Mushtaq Ahmed, a civilian, Khalid Mehmood, Chief Technician, Pakistan Air Force, Corporal Technician Nawazish Ali and Junior Technicians Niaz Mohammad and Adnan Rasheed have moved appeals before the apex court against rejection of the same by the Rawalpindi Bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC).—Staff Correspondent