An armed security guard stands outside the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
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In its 182-page judgment, the court concluded that the appellants failed to prove wrongdoing on the part of the military authorities.
The five-member larger bench, headed by Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Anwar Zaheer Jamali, had reserved the judgment on June 20.
A total 17 appeals were filed but the Laeeq Bacha appeal had been dismissed much earlier. Two families and one lawyer said they had been threatened after filing appeals.
Military courts were established after the 21st Amendment in the constitution and the amendment in the Pakistan Army Act. They also claimed they were denied access to military court records when preparing their appeals.
Military courts had handed death sentences to suspects for their alleged involvement in incidents of terrorism such as the Army Public School massacre in Peshawar, Parade Lane terrorist attack and the Bannu jail attack, as well as other incidents of terrorism.
The decision marks the first time the highest court has ruled on the legality of cases tried by the military. She stated that people were illegally detained under the regulation, and after the constitutional amendment was introduced to hide the illegality.
Pakistan reinstated the death penalty and established military courts after suffering its deadliest-ever extremist attack, when gunmen stormed a school in the northwest in 2014 and killed more than 150 people-mostly children.
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Additional Advocate General Attique Shah representing the federation had refuted the contentions and said that there was no violation of rule and law. He said that the federal government had referred the cases to the military courts after the 21st Amendment and promulgation of Pakistan Army (Amendment) Act 2015.
