30-day delay: Saulat Mirza escapes the noose again

PM Nawaz advises President Mamnoon Hussain to extend the order


Our Correspondent March 28, 2015
PM Nawaz advises President Mamnoon Hussain to extend the order. YOUTUBE SCREENGRAB

ISLAMABAD:


Authorities in Pakistan have put off the execution of death-row inmate Saulat Mirza for 30 days — the third delay announced in the space of a month following his startling video confession.


The confession was made hours before he was to be hanged on March 19. Mirza’s execution was delayed first for 72 hours and then for a week.


On Friday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif advised President Mamnoon Hussain to extend the order of holding in abeyance the death sentence of Saulat Mirza for a period of 30 days starting from April 1, a brief statement issued from the PM’s office read.


Mirza faces capital punishment for killing the then managing director of KESC Shahid Hamid. The condemned prisoner has claimed in his leaked video confession that he did it on the directives of MQM chief Altaf Hussain.


Mirza’s hanging had been deferred, reportedly, to initiate investigations into the allegations in the video.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 28th, 2015.

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