MUZAFFARABAD: A condemned prisoner, who had killed two people more than 14 years ago, was executed in Mirpur prison on Tuesday, an official said.

Convict Liaquat Hussain was sentenced to death twice by the district criminal court Kotli in November 2004 for slaying two brothers, who were related to him, in Gnas Dhanna village of Kotli’s Khuiratta tehsil allegedly over a land dispute.

According to Jail superintendent Irshad Hussain Jaral, his appeal was rejected by AJK Shariat Court in June 2005 and also by the AJK Supreme Court in May 2007. His review petition was also dismissed by the AJK apex court in October 2012.

In May 2016, AJK president turned down his petition for clemency following which he was shifted to the death cell in Central Jail Mirpur.

In the following months, his mother submitted two mercy petitions in succession to the president but both were turned down.

The official said that the convict’s family tried its best to seek pardon from the legal heirs of slain brothers with offers of huge amount in diyat, but to no avail.

Even on Monday, his family made a last ditch attempt to seek another moratorium from the president, but it was denied after the legal heirs of the deceased categorically refused any settlement on the issue, he said.

On Monday, the jail authorities invited the family members of the convict to meet him, he added.

Mr Jaral said that at about midnight the convict expressed his last desire to see his son who he said lived with his estranged wife in a village in tehsil Dadyal, located 65 kilometres away from Mirpur.

“Though apparently it was a difficult task to locate the child at that point of time, but somehow I managed to find him with the help of my friends in Dadyal,” he said, adding, the boy arrived at the prison at about 4am and spent some time with his father before he was sent to the gallows.

According to Mr Jaral, two more prisoners, Arshad Mehboob and Tahir Aziz, were also on the death row in his prison.

Last executions in Mirpur jail were carried out in April last year when Raja Ghazanfar Khan of Gulpur and Mohammad Yaqoob of Tattapani (both in district Kotli) were hanged to death, Mr Jaral said.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2018