KARACHI: All is set for the hanging of two death row prisoners on Tuesday as the last-ditch attempt made by their relatives to save their lives proved futile on Tuesday when the Supreme Court of Pakistan dismissed the plea against the execution.

Mohammad Faisal and Mohammad Afzal were sentenced to death by an antiterrorism court in 1999 for killing Abdul Jabbar during a dacoity at his house in Korangi in December 1998.

An antiterrorism court had last week issued fresh death warrants for the hanging of both convicts for March 17.

Faisal’s mother, Amna Begum, fainted outside the courtroom after a three-judge bench of the apex court dismissed her application. Later, she was moved from the scene in an ambulance by her relatives.

On Tuesday, the three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, dismissing the plea of the convicts against their hanging observed that the compromise between the parties was not applicable to compoundable offences.

The bench that also comprised Justices Amir Hani Muslim and Qazi Faez Isa ordered: “The impugned order had been passed by the High Court of Sindh, Karachi upon the petitioners’ own request and, thus, the petitioners cannot take any exception to the impugned order. Apart from that the mainstay of the petitioners’ case is a compromise statedly arrived at between the petitioners and the heirs of the deceased but the learned counsel for the petitioners cannot controvert that the offences under Section 396, PPC, and Section 6 read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 are non-compoundable. In these circumstances we have no other option but to dismiss these petitions and refuse leave to appeal therein.”

The appeals of the convicts against the death penalty had already been turned down by the higher and superior courts, while their mercy petitions was recently rejected by the presidency.

On jail authorities request, the trial court on March 9 issued fresh black warrants for the execution of both death row prisoners and asked the jail officials to carry out the hanging on March 17 at 5:30am under the supervision of a judicial magistrate after observing requisite requirements as per the jail manual.

An official at the central prison on Monday said that they had arranged the last meetings of the death row convicts with their families. “All other arrangements have also been finalised for their hanging on Tuesday,” he said. A district and sessions court appointed a judicial magistrate to supervise the execution, he added.

Initially, the trial court had on Feb 23 issued black warrants for their execution and fixed March 5. But the condemned prisoners moved the Sindh High Court against the execution, arguing that legal heirs of the deceased had pardoned them. On March 2, the SHC suspended the operation of black warrants till March 6 and observed that the parties might move a compromise application before the trial court.

Therefore, the convicts and the complainant party jointly moved a compromise application before the ATC. However, after hearing arguments from both sides, the trial court threw out the plea on March 6 for not being maintainable and observed that the offences, besides dacoity with murder, came within the ambit of Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 were non-compoundable.

According to the prosecution, the two accused along with their accomplice, Kashif, who died in jail in 2006, and three absconders broke into the house of Abdul Jabbar and killed him when he put up resistance. In the meantime, a police party arrived there and managed to arrest the three accused, it added. The trial court had handed down capital punishment to Kashif also.

A case was lodged against the accused under Section 302 (premeditated murder), 396 (dacoity with murder), 324 (attempt to commit murder), 353 (criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon) and 34 (common intention) of Pakistan Penal Code and Section 13-D of Arms Ordinance, 1965 read with Section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 on a complaint of the deceased’s son at the Korangi police station.

So far 25 condemned prisoners have been hanged across the country since Dec 17 last year when the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government lifted a moratorium on executions in the wake of the Peshawar school tragedy. The Pakistan Peoples Party government had placed a moratorium on hanging after coming into power in 2008.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2015

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