Mentally ill ex-policeman must be spared hanging in Pakistan, say lawyers

<div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPApCLcQvYGhiACjeJGBz3gK4kkn3paaO6LMoEWSMemx0AZUB410UnnSC_-AQy2PVgbV-vU_eYAmmTuOrIaVpjs3UuON_FFX3BNKDjEtdCCgOXf8My4z0ZJ6FErPfGuPwUVZhJyjRybdE/s1600/Death+Penalty+News.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPApCLcQvYGhiACjeJGBz3gK4kkn3paaO6LMoEWSMemx0AZUB410UnnSC_-AQy2PVgbV-vU_eYAmmTuOrIaVpjs3UuON_FFX3BNKDjEtdCCgOXf8My4z0ZJ6FErPfGuPwUVZhJyjRybdE/s400/Death+Penalty+News.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>A Pakistani court will tomorrow (12th) decide whether to halt the execution of a severely mentally ill man.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At a hearing in Lahore, lawyers for Khizar Hayat – a former policeman who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and is detained in isolation in a prison hospital ward – will argue that his hanging would be illegal.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr Hayat’s execution is set for 17th January, even though proceedings in his case are still pending before the Lahore High Court.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 2015, the courts halted an initial government plan to execute Mr Hayat after seeing jail records documenting his severe mental illness.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The documents include comments from doctors that Mr Hayat “is suffering from active symptoms of severe psychosis”.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The execution of mentally ill people is prohibited under Pakistani and international law.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Four UN Special Rapporteurs have recently criticised Pakistan’s plans to hang another severely mentally ill man, Imdad Ali, after the Supreme Court controversially claimed that schizophrenia was ‘not a mental illness’.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Concerns have also been raised over wrongful executions in Pakistan, after two brothers, Ghulam Sarwar and Ghulam Qadir, who had already been hanged were found to be innocent by the Supreme Court. As in Mr Hayat’s case, a warrant was issued for their execution by the lower courts, despite the pending proceedings in a higher.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pakistan’s 8,000-strong death row is the largest in the world, and the government has hanged over 421 prisoners since resuming executions in December 2014.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Commenting, Maya Foa, a director of Reprieve, said:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">“Like Imdad Ali, Khizar Hayat suffers from severe mental illness. It is outrageous that the authorities are trying to rush through his hanging while Imdad’s case is still pending a decision from the Supreme Court and while Khizar’s case is still under consideration by the High Court itself. The issuance of a warrant while proceedings were still pending in another case has already lead to two innocent men going to the gallows. Now Pakistan risks carrying out another wrongful execution of a severely mentally ill prisoner. The court tomorrow must stay Khizar’s execution. Pakistan’s death penalty system is broken, and the government should halt executions or risk grave and irreparable injustices being carried out in its name.”</blockquote><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Source: Reprieve, January 11, 2017. Reprieve is an international human rights organization.<br /><br /><br /><h2>Man hanged over judge's murder in Adiyala Jail</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">A death row prisoner was executed in Adiyala Jail on Tuesday morning over murdering 2 people, which included a judge, ARY News reported.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">According to details, the murderer Naveed Hussain executed in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. After execution, the body was handed over to the relatives.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jail sources said that Hussain had murdered a anti-terrorism court judge Jamshed Khan in 2006. He had escaped from Skardu Jail in 2013 and killed another person during that period.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pakistan lifted a moratorium on the death penalty - on 17th December 2014 - a day after Taliban gunmen attacked Army Public School Peshawar, killing 132 students and 9 teachers.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The bloodshed had shocked the nation and put pressure on the government to do more to tackle the Taliban insurgency.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A moratorium on the death penalty was imposed in 2008 after the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) government took reins of power in the country and only 1 execution took place during its 5-year tenure.</div><br />Source: arynews.tv, January 10, 2017<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Mentally ill ex-policeman must be spared hanging in Pakistan, say lawyers

A Pakistani court will tomorrow (12th) decide whether to halt the execution of a severely mentally ill man. At a hearing in Lahore, lawyers ...

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