Supreme Court Stop the Execution of Imdad Ali

ISLAMABAD, Supreme Court on Monday blocked the execution of a paranoid schizophrenic murder convict pending a review of an earlier ruling that his condition was not a permanent mental disorder and therefore not legally relevant, his lawyers said.

Rights groups have denounced the possible execution of Imdad Ali, 50, who government doctors certified as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia in 2012, following his conviction for the 2001 murder of a cleric.

He was due to be executed on Wednesday, according to execution orders issued last week.

But the Supreme Court agreed to review an Oct. 21 ruling on Ali’s final appeal, when the court ruled that schizophrenia did not fall within Pakistan’s legal definition of mental disorders.

“We welcome the decision … which will be integral in showing Pakistan’s commitment to its international human rights obligations,” said Zainab Malik, head of advocacy at Justice Project Pakistan, a legal aid group representing Ali.

The court scheduled a hearing for the second week of November.

Pakistan ended a virtual moratorium on capital punishment in 2014 after Pakistani Taliban gunmen massacred more than 150 people, most of them children, at a school.

Ali’s family says he has suffered from the mental condition for years.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

x

Check Also

مریم نواز کو سمیش کرنے کی دھمکی دینے والا میجر جنرل عرفان ملک سپر سیڈ

پاک فوج میں تین میجر جنرلز کو ترقی دے کر لیفٹننٹ جنرل بنا دیا گیا ...

%d bloggers like this: