PESHAWAR, Jan 29: A woman on death row in the Kohat prison has been awaiting a decision on her appeal for the six years, it is learnt. Shehnaz is now pinning hopes on the full bench of the Federal Shariat Court which will hear her appeal on Feb 1 here.

The woman, convicted of killing her husband Ibrar, has been in the prison since 1996. She gave birth to a baby girl in the prison. Her daughter is living with her as she has nobody outside to look after her.

The appellant and co-accused Aamir, stated to be a nephew of Ibrar, were sentenced to death by a trial court in Kohat on Oct 3, 2000.

The convicts filed the appeals before the Peshawar High Court. In April 2002, a two-member bench of the high court transferred the appeals to the Federal Shariat Court as they were also charged under the Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance, 1979.

Shehnaz’s case is being taken care of by the Voice of Prisoners, an organisation dealing with cases of destitute women and prisoners.

The chairman of the organization, Noor Alam Khan, told this correspondent that in Jan 2003 a full bench of the Shariat court took up the appeals for preliminary hearing. The Shariat court, he added, had directed the deputy advocate-general to conduct an inquiry into the matter.

He said that since Shehnaz had children from her deceased-husband, therefore under the Qisas and Diyat law she could not be awarded death sentence.

Mr Khan said that the woman had been waiting for the decision on her appeal for the last six years. He asked: “What is the crime of the small girl living inside the prison for the last nine years?”

According to prosecution, Ibrar’s brother lodged a report with the Kohat police that Ibrar had been missing. The police claimed to have recovered Ibrar’s body from a well on Aug 11, 1996 on the lead provided by appellant Aamir.