RAWALPINDI: The Lahore High Court’s (LHC) Rawalpindi bench, on Tuesday, stayed the execution of a prisoner, who may have become the first death row inmate to be executed in the country since a moratorium was imposed on the death penalty six years ago.

His lawyers argued that after having been in prison for 18 years – a period greater than the term of life imprisonment – Shoaib Sarwar had served his sentence and could not be executed.

They maintain that according to the principle of ‘double punishment’ defined in Article 13 of the Constitution, it was illegal to punish an accused twice for the same crime.

Sarwar was convicted in July, 1998 by a Rawalpindi district and sessions judge for the murder of Awais Nawaz on January 21, 1996 in Wah Cantt.

After 18 years in prison, lawyers say condemned man has served his sentence; execution would be illegal now

He was awarded the death sentence, which he appealed. The LHC rejected the plea in July 2003. Another appeal, this time to the Supreme Court, was rejected in April, 2006. Sarwar’s plea for clemency was also rejected by the Presidency.

The victim’s brother, Jamshed Nawaz, had moved the high court against the delay in implementing the sentence despite the fact that he had exhausted all forums of appeal.

In August this year, when the government failed to produce any documents proving that the moratorium was still in effect, the high court ordered the district and sessions judge to implement the sentence.

The Rawalpindi district and sessions judge signed a death warrant and directed the Adiala Jail superintendent to execute the convict on September 18.

However, Hamza Haider, the attorney from Justice Project Pakistan (JPP) – a non-governmental organisation specialising in legal assistance – argued that Shoaib was party to Barrister Zafarullah’s petition seeking the abolition of the death penalty and currently pending before the Supreme Court. They maintained that any execution order could not be acted upon until the apex court ruled in the matter.

He said that there have been no executions of death row convicts since 2008 after former President Asif Ali Zardari issued an unofficial moratorium on November 14, 2008. According to Mr Haider, there are more than 8,500 prisoners on death row in Pakistan.

Separately, in a statement issued on Tuesday, JPP pointed out that the government had announced a moratorium on the death penalty in 2013, in keeping with its international commitments and requirements for the much-coveted European Union’s GSP+ trade status, but then failed to supply any official confirmation to the high court on the existence of a moratorium, which lead to the issuance of Shoaib Sarwar’s death warrant.

The statement quoted JPP Legal Director Maryam Haq as saying, “Shoaib’s execution would be an unimaginable violation of his constitutional rights. The government’s recent silence and inaction on (the moratorium) has put death row inmates’ futures in question.”

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2014