Speaking from his hospital bed in Dubai, Pakistan’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf said a special court’s decision to sentence him to death in a high treason case was the result of a “personal vendetta”.

Musharraf, who was tried and sentenced in absentia, said in a video released late yesterday that the allegations against him were politically motivated and it was “an unprecedented case in which neither the defendant nor his lawyer was allowed to defend the case.”