KARACHI: The brother of Shafqat Hussain, condemned to death, spoke on Thursday of his relief after the president granted a stay of execution.

Shafqat, convicted of killing a seven-year-old boy in Karachi in 2004, was just hours away from the gallows when the delay order was given late on Wednesday.

The case has attracted international attention as Shafqat was apparently only 13 years old at the time of the killing and rights campaigners say he did not have a fair trial.

Know more: EU urges Pakistan to reinstate moratorium on death penalty

The United Nations highlighted the case on Thursday as it urged Pakistan to reinstate a moratorium on the death penalty which was lifted after six years in December after the Taliban massacre at a Peshawar school.

Shafqat’s brother Gul Zaman said he was going to bid him farewell in jail in Karachi late on Wednesday, when he was told of the reprieve.

“Shafqat was looking worried. I could see the despair on his face, his tears were rolling down his face as he spoke to me in a very low voice,” Gul told AFP by phone from Karachi.

“He said: ‘Tell mother not to worry. Instead pray for me, tell her that I am innocent’.”

Late on Wednesday the presidency ordered a 30-day stay of execution, but Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told parliament on Thursday the delay was only for 72 hours.

Sumaira Bibi, Shafqat ‘s elder sister, said the family were overcome with gratitude when news of the stay came through.

“We are thankful to all those people who helped in the postponement of the hanging of our brother,” she told AFP in Kashmir, where the family live.

‘He hugged me gently’

So far 48 convicts have been hanged in the country since executions resumed in December after Taliban militants murdered more than 150 people at a school, most of them children, angering rights activists and alarming some foreign countries.

Shafqat had been due to face the noose on Jan 14, but the government halted the execution in the face of protests and ordered an investigation.

But an antiterrorism court last week ordered the hanging to go ahead — until Wednesday’s 11th-hour intervention.

Gul said he left his brother after midnight, with only around five hours left until the hanging was due.

“He hugged me very gently and held me for a very brief moment. He then left me, turned around, his head was bowed as one of the prison officials brought the execution dress,” Gul said.

“I left the cell and as I was leaving the prison I was told that the execution had been delayed, I could not believe it.” Shafqat ‘s mother said she felt that “God has given me back my son”.

“I am praying for everybody, especially the president, the judiciary and the media who helped in the postponement of the hanging of my son,” she said.

Speaking in the National Assembly on Thursday, the interior minister said there was conflicting evidence about Shafqat’s age. A birth certificate had appeared in media reports, but there was no proof that it was correct, he said.

Shafqat, the youngest of seven children, was working as a watchman in Karachi in 2004 when the seven-year-old boy went missing from the neighbourhood.

A few days later the boy’s family received calls from Shafqat’s mobile phone demanding a ransom of half a million rupees, according to legal papers.

Shafqat was arrested and he admitted kidnapping and killing him, but later withdrew his confession, saying he had made it under duress.

Published in Dawn March 20th, 2015

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