On death row: Two murder convicts to be hanged on April 27

HARIPUR: Two murder convicts will be hanged in Central Prison Haripur on April 28, jail officials told The Express Tribune on Saturday. Their last meetings with families have been scheduled on April 27.

According to prison officials, Ali Raza, a resident of Charsadda and Farhad, son of Said Muhammad, committed separate murders in 1997 and were awarded capital punishment by the district court.

Their appeals were turned down by the higher courts, while a mercy plea was also rejected by the president of Pakistan. As a result, black warrants were issued by K-P home department on Friday. Their families have been informed of their last meeting.

Earlier in 2015, 35-year-old Malik Khurram who had hacked his friend to death, was hanged in Central Prison Haripur. He was the first inmate at the facility to be sent to the gallows. In the past, the prisoners awaiting execution would be taken to the Abbottabad prison.  The district and sessions judge had awarded death sentence to Khurram in 1999 for killing his friend Ejaz Goga. He had hacked Goga to death and then dumped pieces of his body in various parts of Mansehra city.  Khurram had spent 18 years in Haripur and Mansehra prisons.

Similarly on September 17, 2015, another convicted murderer was hanged in Central Prison Haripur. Bashir, a resident of Mohallah Dhok Talokar, Haripur was convicted by a Rawalpindi court about 18 years ago for murder. Bashir exhausted all forums for appeals and even filed a mercy plea with the president of Pakistan which was rejected.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 24^th, 2016.