Black warrant formally issued for ‘mentally ill’ convict

‘Mentally ill’ Khizer Hayat to be executed on Jan 17

LAHORE: District and sessions judge Nazir Ahmed Gajana issued the death warrant of 55-year-old ‘mentally ill’ convict Khizer Hayat who is scheduled to be executed on January 17.

Hayat, a former policeman, was convicted in 2003 of murdering one of his peers. Due to a communication gap between institutions, the district and sessions court was unaware that the matter was pending before the Lahore High Court. Also, the convict’s counsel failed to clearly highlight this fact in front of the sessions judge.



Hayat’s counsel filed a writ petition at the LHC on September 24, 2016, challenging the execution on the basis of his client’s deteriorating mental state.

Despite the ongoing proceedings, authorities at the Central Jail, Lahore, forwarded a request to have the former policeman’s black warrant issued. The appeal was granted by the sessions court.

The judge also mentioned in his order that Hayat’s lawyer once appeared before the court and verbally said that a writ had been filed at LHC, but no injunctive order staying the execution of the black warrant was produced.

Justice Project Pakistan (JPP), a human rights organisation providing pro bono legal representation to vulnerable Pakistani prisoners, stated that a division bench of the LHC issued notices to the home department and central jail superintendent to file their comments. The matter is still pending before the court and the provincial government is yet to file a reply.

Khizer’s execution warrant comes at a time when the case of Imdad Ali, another schizophrenic on death row, is pending before the Supreme Court. During proceedings in that case, judges believed it would be “inappropriate” to hang a mentally ill prisoner.



According to the details of Hayat’s case, complainant Muhammad Arif said in an FIR that on October 21, 2001, he and his brother Ghulam Ghous were going back home. That is when the accused, wearing a police uniform, intercepted them. Hayat was enraged and said he would take revenge from Ghous for insulting him in front of his friends and family over a monetary dispute. The convict then shot Ghous dead on the spot.

On July 18, 2002, formal charges were framed against Hayat who pleaded not guilty. On April 2 of the following year, the judge, after examining the evidence and hearing witness accounts, found that the prosecution successfully proved its case beyond reasonable doubt. He announced the Hayat is to be hanged till death and also pay a fine of Rs100,000 to the legal heirs of the deceased.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2017.