ISLAMABAD: Former president Pervez Musharraf pleaded not guilty to five counts of treason on Monday in the latest chapter of a long-running drama between the increasingly assertive judiciary and its former military ruler.
Musharraf faces the death penalty if convicted of charges over his suspension of the constitution and imposition of emergency rule in 2007, when he was trying to extend his tenure.
The case marks the first time a former military officer of Musharraf's rank has appeared in court before a judge in a country where the military has rarely been challenged by either the government or the judiciary.
"I would like to ask where is the justice for me in the Islamic republic of Pakistan ... I have only given to this country and not taken anything," Musharraf said. "I prefer death to surrender."
Musharraf's lawyer sought permission for his client to visit his sick mother in Dubai. The former military ruler is under house arrest.
"His mother is dying, for god's sake," Farough Naseem said. "She is 94 and very ill."
But the court said it did not have the power to remove Musharraf's name from a federal government list of people prohibited from leaving the country.
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