PHOTO: EXPRESS
The suspension order came on a petition filed by the family of convict, Shahid Mehmood, to persuade the two victims' heirs for pardon. Mehmood was sentenced to death by a Karachi anti-terrorism court that found him guilty of murdering a policeman's wife, named Shamim, and their daughter, Nadia, in Napier on September 17, 1998.
According to the prosecution, Mehmood along with his accomplice Muhammad Khab entered the house of ASI Ghulam Mujtaba situated in Police Lines in Napier and killed his wife and daughter after robbing them. The SHC and the Supreme Court had also dismissed the appeals of the convict in August 1999 and May 2000.
On Wednesday, his brother Muhammad Nadeem told the high court judges that the ATC had issued black warrants for the execution of the convict on May 28 who will be executed at Karachi Central Prison. He claimed that the legal heirs of the deceased are ready to file a compromise application before the trial court, which may take some time.
To a court query that none of the legal heirs were present before the court, advocate Khawaja Naveed said that legal heirs hail from Punjab and will file a compromise application in the trial court within two days. Therefore, he pleaded the court stay the execution of the sentence for two days so that the compromise application can be filed before the trial court.
A division bench, headed by Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh, issued notice to Sindh advocate-general, prosecutor-general and others for May 29. Till then, the operation of the death warrants will remain suspended, the court ruled.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 28th, 2015.
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