LAHORE: A Lahore High Court division bench on Tuesday stayed execution of a ‘paralysed’ condemned prisoner, Abdul Basit, and suspended his death warrants issued for July 29 (today).

Basit, 43, was convicted and sentenced to death for murder in 2009. In 2010, he contracted tubercular meningitis in prison, which left him paralysed from the lower part of the body, his counsel Azam Nazir Tarar told the bench.

He said despite being unable to stand and dependent on a wheelchair, death warrants were issued last week. He said execution of a paralysed man would constitute cruel and unusual punishment, violating fundamental right to human dignity enshrined in the Constitution.

The counsel pointed out that Pakistan’s law had provisions for mercy to be granted in cases where prisoners were suffering from severe “ill-health”. The government’s failure to acknowledge this and commute Basit’s sentence appeared to form part of a worrying trend involving the blanket dismissal of all mercy petitions considered since executions resumed in 2014, he added.

He asked the court to set aside the death warrants of Basit and stop the authorities from hanging him.

The bench headed by Justice Alia Neelum halted the execution and sought a reply from the prisons department by Aug 17.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play