LAHORE: The Supreme Court is set to announce on Wednesday (today) a reserved judgement on a point whether a mentally ill death row prisoner can be executed.

Headed by Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik, a five-judge bench will announce the judgement at the Lahore registry. Other members of the bench include Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel and Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah.

The bench had on Jan 7, 2021, reserved its verdict after marathon hearings on three appeals pertaining to as many mentally ill prisoners on death row amid a consensus from the amicus curiae and advocate generals that such inmates should not be executed.

The appeals had been filed on the behalf of Kanizan Bibi, Imdad Ali and Ghulam Abbas who have spent 30, 18 and 14 years on death row, respectively, while exhibiting acute symptoms of mental illness.

On the last hearing, the advocate generals of all the provinces, along with an additional attorney general, on behalf of the federal government told the bench that mentally ill persons should not be handed down death penalty and not be executed.

Prof Dr Mowadat Hussain Rana and Advocate Haider Rasul Mirza also assisted the court as amicus curiae with their medical and legal expertise. They both had the opinion that the mentally ill prisoners should not be executed and instead shifted to a psychiatric facility where they could be treated with psychotropic medications and psychological interventions.

They also recommended establishing forensic medical facilities at the provincial level for rehabilitation of such prisoners.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2021