LAHORE: Rights activist Asma Jahangir has said executing a paraplegic, Abdul Basit, will be an inhuman act.

In a statement, she said 43-year-old Basit was likely to be executed in Faisalabad soon. He is paralysed down the waist and is on a wheelchair. His mother Parveen said she saw scars from ropes on Basit’s wrists when she met him recently.

Asma strongly condemned this act of officials and said civilised societies should treat a patient like a patient should be treated. “Basit is paralysed and officials should stop torturing him inside the jail. The decision to execute him should also be suspended, she demanded.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2015

Opinion

Editorial

AJK elections
29 Jul, 2026

AJK elections

CONSIDERING the political unrest that has rocked Azad Jammu and Kashmir in the recent past, free and fair general...
Still vulnerable
29 Jul, 2026

Still vulnerable

THE State Bank’s decision to hold the policy rate at 11.5pc is a prudent response to the heightened risks the...
Guarding the past
29 Jul, 2026

Guarding the past

THE return of 513 smuggled archaeological artefacts from the US is a welcome homecoming for objects that should ...
Lull in fighting
Updated 28 Jul, 2026

Lull in fighting

AFTER two weeks of escalating violence, the US has halted its strikes on Iran, with Tehran also silencing it guns....
Water policy
28 Jul, 2026

Water policy

THE country is caught in a crisis where there too much water at the wrong time and too little when it is most ...
Ending hepatitis
28 Jul, 2026

Ending hepatitis

WORLD Hepatitis Day is being observed under the theme ‘Hepatitis: Let’s break it down’, a call to remove the...