PESHAWAR, July 4: A woman condemned to death by a trial court for killing her husband has been awaiting the outcome of her appeal for the last four years.

Since January last year, no hearing has taken place in her appeal before the Federal Shariat Court. She has been in prison since 1996.

The appellant, Ms Shehnaz, was sentenced to death by a trial court in Kohat along with a male-accused, Aamir, stated to be a nephew of her husband. The trial court convicted them on October 3, 2000.

Initially, their appeals were pending before the Peshawar High Court. However, in April 2002, a two-member bench of the high court transferred their case to the shariat court as they were also charged under the Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance, 1979.

Under the law, only the shariat court is empowered to hear their appeals. On January 9, 2003, a full bench of the shariat court, headed by the then chief justice Fazal Ilahi Khan, took up for preliminary hearing the appeals of Ms Shehnaz and Aamir.

The woman has taken the plea that as she was having children from her deceased husband, therefore under the Qisas and Diyat law she could not be awarded a death sentence.

The shariat court had directed the deputy advocate general to conduct an inquiry in that regard. Since then, a full bench has not visited Peshawar, whereas under the shariat court rules an appeal against death sentences should be heard by more than two judges.

The woman's case is being pursued by the Voice of Prisoners. Its chairman Noor Alam Khan stated that under section 306 read with 308 of the Qisas and Diyat law, an accused could not be sentenced to death for killing a person if wali (legal heir) of the deceased is a direct descendent of the offender.

He claimed that the trial court erred in sentencing her to death as the wali of her deceased husband were their children who are descendent of the woman. According to the prosecution, the officials of Kohat city police station had received report about the absence of the deceased.

The deceased's brother, Pervaiz, told the police that his brother was in the UAE and every year he used to visit his family at Mall Mandhi, Kohat. He claimed that last time when he returned, he disappeared after a few days and his wife (the appellant) told his family members that he had left for the UAE.

The police claimed recovering the body of the deceased from a well on the pointation of the male-appellant, Aamir, on August 11, 1996. Later on, the woman recorded her confessional statement on August 13 and the male-appellant on August 14, 1996, confessing to their crime.

Both the appellants had retracted their confessional statements, stating that they were illiterate and the police had received their thumb impression on some pieces of paper.