Capital puinishment: Convicted murderer hanged

HARIPUR: A man convicted of killing three people during jirga in 2003 was finally taken to the gallows on Thursday. Saiful Islam was served death sentence by a trial court in Mardan for spraying bullets on a jirga that had been called to settle his dispute. Three people had died in the incident. A trial court had handed Saif a death sentence which was upheld by the Peshawar High Court and the Supreme Court. His mercy petition was also rejected by the president. A day earlier, Saif’s heirs were allowed to meet him for the last time. A hangman was called from Peshawar central jail for the execution. On a chilly morning of Thursday, he was taken out of the death cell and made to walk to the gallows and stand on the plank. At 6:30am the hangman pulled the lever completing the sentence of the court. The body was handed over to the family after legal formalities.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 16^th, 2018.