Special Courts were established in May 2001 to deal...

Special Courts were established in May 2001 to deal with offences such as armed robbery, murder, weapons possession and smuggling.
The Special Courts consist of two military judges and one civil judge. Lawyers are usually forbidden to stand before the Special Court and plaintiffs are given the right to appeal only when sentenced to death or amputation.
Under such circumstances, the appeal must be made within seven days of the sentence to the District Chief of Justice, whose decision is final. There have been reports of people executed the day after sentencing.
Since 1983, people found guilty of prostitution have been subjected to death by stoning in public. Prostitution falls undet the Hudud laws. Hudud and Qisas laws deal with offences and punishments that are interpreted by Muslim juristic scholars to be derived from the Qur'an and the Sunnah (of the prophet).
According to some scholars, the word "hudud" is not used in the Qur'an specifically in terms of punishment. However juristic opinion has reduced hudud to mean mandatory punishment. Under Hudud law, theft, robbery, illicit sex, alcohol consumption and apostasy are considered offences.
Punishment for these offences are corporal in nature, involving whipping, stoning to death and amputation of limbs. Qisas (law of retaliation) refers to offences that involve bodily injury or loss of life. The punishment is death or imprisonment, but compensation in the form of a sum of money or property (diyat and irsy) is accepted if the guardian of the victim forgives the offender.