The case was heard by a larger bench of the Supreme Court already constituted by the Chief Justice Mr Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. The eleven-member bench includes Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Nasir ul Mulk, Justice Muhammad Sair Ali, Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui, Justice Jawad S. Khawaja, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmani and Justice Ghulam Rabbani.

During proceedings said Dr Babar Awan, counsel for the referring authority, "a person complicit in a crime is never sentenced to death".

Chief justice remarks that, the SC assures its work according to the constitution and parliament can introduce a law to amend the constitution.

The death sentence was awarded to ZAB in 1979.

The Reference was sent to the Supreme Court by President Asif Ali Zardari under Article 186 of the Constitution.