U.N. top court to rule on India-Pakistan death penalty dispute

Reuters: The World Court is set to rule on Wednesday (July 17) in a case where India accuses Pakistan of not allowing diplomatic assistance to an Indian national sentenced to death by Islamabad. The decision of the United Nations court, formally known as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will be read out at 3 pm local time (1300gmt). In hearings before the 15-judge panel earlier this year, India argued that the court should order the release of Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav, a former Indian navy commander who was arrested in Pakistan in March 2016 and convicted of spying. India filed a claim against Pakistan before the ICJ in May 2017 arguing Islamabad had breached the 1963 Vienna Convention by not allowing diplomatic assistance to Jadhav during his secretive trial. India won an injunction that ordered Jadhav's execution stayed while the court looked into the case. Pakistan said that India was trying to use the court intended to resolve international disputes as a criminal appeals court. They also said the relief sought by India was disproportionate even if the treaty were violated, and at most Jadhav's case could be reviewed. The ICJ is the U.N.'s highest court, and its decisions are binding -- though it has no power to enforce them and they have been ignored in rare instances.