LAHORE: A Lahore High Court division bench on Tuesday dismissed a petition against execution of a ‘paralysed’ condemned prisoner Abdul Basit.

The bench observed it was the job of jail superintendent and doctor to decide whether a death row prisoner was fit for execution.

Nusrat Parveen, mother of the convict, had filed the petition seeking an order against death warrants issued for the execution of her son.

Basit, 43, was convicted and sentenced to death for killing Asif Nadeem of Okara in 2009.

Barrister Sarah Belal on behalf of the petitioner argued that the execution of a paralysed man was against both the jail law and human rights.

She said Basit was left paralysed down the waist due to negligence of jail officials and could not move without a wheelchair.

Counsel for the Punjab home department told the bench that the sections 350 and 356 of the Jail Manual allowed execution of crippled convicts.

He said the jail officials used wheelchair to take disabled prisoners to the gallows.

After hearing the government’s version, the bench headed by Justice Muhammad Anwarul Haq dismissed the petition.

The bench said the petitioner should wait for the decision of jail superintendent or doctor as they had the jurisdiction to determine fitness of a prisoner for execution.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2015

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