[JURIST] A secret military court in Pakistan [official military website] on Monday sentenced nine men to death and another to life in prison on terrorism-related charges. The men were accused of a variety of acts, including attacks on army convoys in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, an attack in the Baluchistan province that killed 27 people, and an attack on a military convoy near the border with Afghanistan. In a statement [text], the court characterized the men as “nine hard core terrorists involved in killings of civilians and persons of Law Enforcement Agencies,” and said each of the men admitted their crimes once convicted.

Pakistan’s secret military court was put in place in January following the Peshawar school attack [JURIST report], with the justification that civilians are too intimidated by violent extremists to convict them. In response to the attack, Pakistan’s prime minister lifted [JURIST report] the nation’s six-year moratorium on the death penalty. Following an immediate increase in executions, Amnesty International called on [JURIST report] the nation to stop sentencing people for violation of the 1997 Anti-Terrorism Act, which they described as “so vague that almost all crimes fall under [its] definition.” However, executions have gone on unimpeded, as at least 16 people have been sentenced to death by the military court in the last month.