[JURIST] The Pakistan Supreme Court [official website] dismissed [text, PDF] former military leader Pervez Musharraf’s [BBC profile] petition on Thursday to review its 2009 verdict [JURIST report] declaring the 2007 imposed emergency as unconstitutional. The 14 justices, led by Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani [JURIST report], dismissed the petition stating that it was barred by length of time since the original ruling. The court also found that Musharraf’s grounds for appeal do not fall within the purview or review jurisdiction. Musharraf is facing trial for treason [IBN report] relating to his unconstitutional declaration of emergency in 2007. Musharraf’s counsel has repeatedly extended his trial for treason arguing that the trial must wait for the court’s decision on his petition.

In August the Pakistani interim government declined [JURIST report] to try Musharraf for treason because they claimed such action would be outside the scope of their duties. Also that month a Pakistani court officially charged [JURIST report] Musharraf with murder, conspiracy to commit murder and facilitation of murder in the 2007 death of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto [BBC obituary; JURIST news archive]. In April a Pakistan court extended [JURIST report] Musharraf’s bail on charges of illegally detaining judges. That same month, the Peshawar High Court of Pakistan [official website] both banned [JURIST report] Musharraf from running for public office for the rest of his life and extended his house arrest during the ongoing trial regarding the murder of Bhutto. Msuharraf left Pakistan in 2008 to live in self-imposed exile in Dubai and London after he was defeated by Bhutto’s party.