Pandora’s Box: Murder convict, not terrorist, scheduled to be hanged next week

This could set an unfortunate precedence, says JPP.


Our Correspondent January 29, 2015
Shoaib Sarwar to be hanged next week. PHOTO: CREATIVE COMMONS

LAHORE: A Rawalpindi sessions court has issued death warrants for a murder convict despite the government’s assurance that the moratorium on death penalty would only be lifted for those sentenced to death for terrorism offenses by an Anti-Terrorism Court, a statement issued by the Justice Project Pakistan on Thursday said.

Shoaib Sarwar, a resident of Wah, was arrested and charged for the murder of Qais Nawaz in February 1996. In 1998, he was convicted and sentenced to death by a Rawalpindi sessions court. The sentence was upheld by the Rawalpindi Bench of Lahore High Court in 2003 and his petition in the Supreme Court was dismissed in 2005.

After former president Asif Zardari stayed executions, the complainants in the case filed a petition before the Rawalpindi Bench asking that Sarwar be executed. Lawyers representing the government did not inform the court about the indefinite stay on executions and the court issued black warrants for Sarwar on July 17, 2014. An intra-court appeal was filed in light of the moratorium and the execution was stayed again.

Sarwar has been in prison for 18 years and is scheduled to be hanged on February 3.

According to the JPP’s statement, Shoaib has a mercy petition pending at the office of the president of Pakistan. Legally, he cannot be executed till he receives a response to the petition. Sarwar is also party to a petition in the Supreme Court asking for abolition of the death penalty on the basis of an inadequate justice system. Since that petition is still pending, a lower court cannot issue death warrants for Sarwar, the JPP has said.

The statement says that Sarwar has been in prison for 18 years. The maximum number of years of internment is 25 years, but prosecutors say that this usually ends up being commuted to around 10 or 12 years, because of remissions and appeals. According to Article 13 of the Constitution, additional punishment, such as execution, amounts to double punishment, which is illegal and a violation of his fundamental rights.

Then there is the issue that Shoaib was a juvenile when he was convicted. He claimed that he was acting in self-defence and to defend his sister. JPP claims that the police had purposely withheld key witnesses and evidence.

The statement says that Sarwar was neither charged under any of Pakistan’s anti-terrorism laws, nor convicted by an anti-terrorism court. Neither the charge against him nor his eventual conviction was related in any way to terrorism and he has no links to any proscribed terrorist organisation.

In the aftermath of the deadly attack in Peshawar on December 16, Pakistan lifted a moratorium on executions in terrorism-related cases. The prime minister’s office issued a statement on December 17, saying “The prime minister has approved abolition of the moratorium on the execution of the death penalty in terrorism related cases”.

Barrister Zafarullah Khan said the prime minister had announced that the moratorium would be lifted for terrorists only. “Why are the courts handing out death sentences to prisoners convicted in personal enmities”?

He said the case could worsen Pakistan’s image around the world. He said Pakistan had recently been given duty-free access for 10 years in European markets. This licence would be reviewed to determine whether Pakistan was making progress on 27 UN conventions pertaining to human rights, labour and gender rights and death penalty.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 30th, 2015.

COMMENTS

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ