Iftikhar Chaudhry to get Harvard Law School honour
Islamabad (PTI): The prestigious Harvard Law School will award the Medal of Freedom, its highest honour, to deposed Pakistan Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry for his work to uphold the legal system's fundamental commitment to freedom and justice.
The previous recipients of this prestigious award include people like former South African President Nelson Mandela.
The Harvard Law School Association decided to award the honour to Chaudhry following last week's military crackdown in Pakistan and the detention of hundreds of lawyers, said a statement.
It noted that Chaudhry was "detained after he convened the Pakistan Supreme Court to declare the current state of emergency imposed by General Pervez Musharraf to be null and void".
Chaudhry and several other Supreme Court judges who refused to endorse the emergency imposed on November 3 are currently under house arrest. Significantly, the Harvard Law School's statement referred to Chaudhry as the "Pakistani Chief Justice" and not as a deposed or former judge.
The statement said: "Although Chaudhry has been placed under house arrest and is not free to leave Pakistan, Dean Elena Kagan has reached out to the chief justice regarding the award and hopes that he'll be able to come to the Law School to receive it when the state of emergency is lifted."
Kagan said: "As lawyers who value freedom and the rule of law, we at Harvard Law School want Chief Justice Chaudhry and all of the courageous lawyers in Pakistan to know that we stand with them in solidarity.
"We are proud to be their colleagues in the cause of justice, and we will do all we can to press for the prompt restoration of constitutionalism and legality in Pakistan."
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