LAHORE: Death row prisoner Ikramul Haq alias Lahori, whose execution was deferred by anti-terrorism court a few days back, was hanged at Kot Lakhpat Central Jail on Saturday.

Haq was executed at 6:30am after the court rejected the “compromise” between his family and the relatives of the man he murdered in 2001.

Ikramul Haq Lahori was convicted by Faisalabad ATC for his involvement in killing of Nayyar Abbas of Shorkot on sectarian basis. He was a resident of Jhang district.

Some TV channels reported him member of a band outfit, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, but the police denied his association with the organisation. It said the accused was booked under murder and terrorism charges.

Lahori was awarded death sentence in 2004 and the court issued his black warrants on Jan 6, 2014 when President Mamnoon Husain turned down his mercy petition.

Earlier, Haq’s execution was scheduled for Jan 8 but his family members approached a first-class magistrate in jail few minutes before his hanging and produced an amnesty affidavit of the complainant pardoning the convict. The magistrate, after viewing the affidavit, ordered the jail authorities to stop the execution and referred the matter to the trial court.

Later, the court rejected the compromise and upheld the decision of death sentence by reissuing the death warrants and fixed the execution on Jan 17.

The convict’s family also moved the Lahore High Court (LHC) for the verification of amnesty affidavit. LHC dismissed the petition on the ground that only trail court could verify the affidavit.

The security was beefed up in and around the Kot Lakhpat jail area ahead of the execution. A heavy contingent comprising police, army and rangers personnel were deployed around the jail premises to avert any untoward incident.

Family members of Haq held last meeting with him on Wednesday. The body of the convict was handed over to his brother by jail authorities after the execution.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had lifted the moratorium on death penalty on Dec 17 after the attack on Peshawar’s Army Public School that killed more than 140 people including 134 schoolchildren. Since then 20 convicts have been hanged in different areas of the country.

Published in Dawn January 18th , 2015

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