LAHORE: The legal counsel for Abdul Basit, a paraplegic on death row, accused Faisalabad jail officials of withholding medical records and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans which could halt Basit's execution, The Telegraph reported.
Basit, 43, was convicted and sentenced to death for murder in 2009. In 2010, he contracted tubercular meningitis in prison, which paralysed the lower half of his body, his counsel told a bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) earlier.
Basit's execution was temporarily stayed last November by President Mamnoon Hussain, who ordered a medical examination, including MRI scans to assess damage to his spine as a result of improper treatment of tubercular meningitis he contracted while in prison.
As the stay expired on April 24, Basit's legal team requested access to MRI scans, which the jail officials refused to hand over on grounds they are police property and it is against standard procedure to hand them over to anyone or to take them off premises.
Basit's legal counsel filed contempt of court proceedings against Faisalabad Central Jail's superintendent in a Lahore court ─ which was dismissed ─ when jail authorities refused to give the original MRI scans.
However, the court ordered the Faisalabad Central Jail authorities to make the MRI scan available in some form to the counsel.
"The judge directed them to give us the MRI scans. That’s where the spine scan will show what damage has been done to his spine. As his legal counsel we have a right to access medical records of our client," Sarah Bilal of Justice Project Pakistan (JPP), a non-profit law firm, told the Telegraph.
"If you can’t pardon somebody who’s been paralysed because of your jail’s negligence, who is going to be eligible for a pardon?"
According to Faisalabad Central Jail Superintendent Ahmed Naveed Gondal, Basit's legal team has been provided with the result of the medical examination and the MRI report, as well as photocopies of the scans when ordered by the court at the legal team's request.
However, the medical examination and the MRI was done by the prison's medical team, and hence the original films of the scan are property of the police.
"This is a part of our internal record and cannot be given away," said Gondal. "The medical record is open for anyone to come to the jail and see."
Gondal also stated jail authorities are in touch with the Interior Ministry, to give a decision to stay Basit's execution once again. The government has been silent so far, but Gondal said a reply is expected by Tuesday.
Basit's lawyers contend the original scans should be included with the medical report, and believe they would prove without doubt that his condition is so severe the execution cannot be carried out.
"Before the President halted my execution the second time, I had no hope that I would live. But the last two stays have given me a hint of hope that the President acknowledges that I am a helpless paralysed man who cannot even stand on my feet," said Basit in a written note passed to The Telegraph through the legal charity Reprieve.
“I don’t know what will happen when my stay expires. I don't know if they will hang me or let me live.”
