Decision demanded: HRCP calls for halting execution of Imdad Hussain

Pakistan Commission of Human Rights (HRCP) has demanded the government halt the execution of mentally ill prisoner Imdad Hussain.

The HRCP has written a letter to President Mamnoon Hussain and brought his attention towards the Supreme Court’s order in which it rejected the application of the schizophrenia patient.

Imdad, who was convicted of killing a cleric in 2002, was diagnosed
with schizophrenia in prison in 2012.

The HRCP has voiced concern over the decision of judges and questioned whether the issue could be solved without opinions of mental health experts.

It pointed out the apex court while deciding this case had ignored Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DMS-5) and other globally accepted definitions and diagnosis for mental illnesses and precedents of decisions by Pakistani courts.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 28^th, 2016.