The hanging of Shafqat Hussain

The appeals ran out in the end and Shafqat Hussain, convicted of the murder of a seven-year-old boy over a decade ago, has been hanged in Karachi Central Jail. The case has in recent times been surrounded by controversies, not the least of these being the question of how old Hussain was when he committed the crime of which he was convicted. There are conflicting accounts as to his date of birth. If he was a minor at the time he was convicted, then he should not have been hanged. His family says he was 15 and that he was tortured by the police into a confession. United Nations human rights lawyers have said that his trial fell short of international standards. The various authorities in Pakistan have stood by their claims as to the rightness of his conviction and that he was of the age of majority when convicted.

The carrying out of the death penalty can only be justified when every vestige of doubt as to the guilt of the person to be executed is gone. Pakistan has a deeply flawed criminal justice system. There is corruption, inefficiency and malfeasance at every level. Police procedures a decade ago were no better than they are today — and they are woefully deficient now. The methods of collection and recording of evidence are often poor, evidence is tainted or poorly kept, and witness statements incorrectly recorded. The death penalty was reinstated after the carnage of the Army Public School massacre in Peshawar last December, supposedly as a deterrent to terrorism. Most of those hanged since have been convicted of domestic offences or were simple criminals, guilty as charged yes, but not terrorists. As has been proven countless times across the world, the death penalty does not serve as a deterrent to crime, even in places like China and Saudi Arabia where hundreds are executed every year. Innocent people have been put to death in Pakistan and there will be more innocent men and women hanged. It can be argued that terrorists welcome hanging rather than fear it as they crave ‘martyrdom’. Given this, it seems Pakistan is currently playing into their hands.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 5^th, 2015.

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