KARACHI, July 4: Authorities of the Karachi central prison informed an anti-terrorism court on Wednesday that the presidency has deferred the hanging of three condemned prisoners till Sept 30.

On Tuesday, the ATC-III had reissued the black warrants for the hanging of the three condemned prisoners — Attaullah alias Qasim and Mohammad Azam alias Sharif of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and Behram Khan — who were sentenced to death in two separate cases.

Behram Khan got capital punishment in 2003 for murdering a lawyer, while the LJ militants were sentenced to death in 2004 for killing a doctor.

The ATC had fixed July 17 and July 18 for their executions, respectively.

However, the jail authorities, through a letter, informed the ATC-III on Wednesday that the presidency deferred the hanging of the three convicts till Sept 30.

The appeals and mercy petitions of the convicts were dismissed by the superior judiciary and the president, respectively.

Earlier, the ATC-III had also issued black warrants for the LJ men on June 11 and fixed June 26 for their execution while a black warrant for Behram was issued on May 10 for his hanging on May 23.

However, in both cases the presidency deferred the executions till June 30.

The LJ activists gunned down Dr Ali Raza Peerani on sectarian grounds in June 2001 in Soldier Bazaar when he came out of his clinic and about to leave in his car.

Behram killed Advocate Mohammad Ashraf on April 15, 2003 in a courtroom of the Sindh High Court. The convict along with a sub-inspector actually came to kill Advocate Qurban Ali Chauhan, who was a lawyer for the accused in a murder case, but killed Ashraf as he did not recognise Qurban.

The three convicts are among 28 condemned prisoners across the country who escaped hanging for so many months due to stay orders issued by the presidency.

Eight condemned prisoners — Sultan Ahmed (FIR 32/95) Miani police station, Sargodha, Hafiz Ahmed Nawaz (FIR 67/98) Chakrala police station, Mohammad Asif (FIR 383/98) Satellite Town police station Sargodha, Rab Nawaz (FIR 159/2000) Bhalwal police station, Mohammad Sarwar (FIR 137/2000) Jhal police station Sargodha, Mohammad Khan (FIR 22/2001) Piplan police station Mainwali, Shaukat Ali (FIR 537/96) Gujjar Khan police station and Zafar Iqbal (FIR 58/03) Miani police station —are confined at the Mianwali central prison.

Four condemned prisoners — Mohammad Raees (FIR 175/97) Bhara Kahu police station Islamabad, Asghar Ali (FIR 44/96) Jatli police station Rawalpindi, Talib Hussain (FIR 168/92) Talagang police station and Mohammad Ameen (FIR 57/98) New Town police station — are confined at the Rawalpindi central prison.

Three condemned prisoners — Mohammad Nawaz (FIR 181/92) city Sangla Hill police station Nankana Sahib, Shafaqat Ali (FIR 72/92) Manawala police station Sheikhupura and Mohammad Sajid alias Tahru (FIR 77/2000) Tarkhani police station — are kept at the Faisalabad central prison.

Zulfiqar Ali (FIR 33/98) Bhara Kahu police station and Mohammad Ayub (FIR 396/2000) Sharqpur police station Sheikhupura were confined at the Lahore central prison, while Mohammad Shahbaz (FIR 52/98) B division police station Okara was a prisoner of the Sahiwal district jail and Azhar Mehmood alias Mooda (FIR 146/95) Phailia police station Mandi Bahauddin was a prisoner of the Gujrat district jail.

Mohammad Riaz (FIR 206/95) Saddar Toba Tek Singh police station, Mohammad Saddique (FIR 270/03) city Kamalia police station, Manzoor Ahmed (FIR 20/03) Phool Nagar police station Kasur and Ikram-ul-Haq (FIR 159/02) Fatehjang police station were kept at the district jails of Jhang, Toba Tek Singh, Kasur and Attock, respectively. The condemned prisoners of district jails were later shifted to central prison in Lahore for execution.

Shoaib Sarwar (FIR 26/96) Wah Cantt police station detained at the Peshawar central prison and Jalal alias Abdul Jalil Moorejo (FIR 34/97) Padidan police station Naushahro Feroze was kept at the Sukkur central prison.