SC suspends prisoner’s execution warrant

Refers mentally ill inmate’s case to a larger bench


Hasnaat Malik January 14, 2019
Khizar Hayat. PHOTO COURTESY: TWITTER/@(SaifullahAwan40)

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday referred the case of mentally ill prisoner Khizar Hayat, who is on death row, to a larger bench.

A two-member bench, headed by Justice Manzoor A Malik, was hearing an appeal filed by Justice Project Pakistan on behalf of Hayat’s mother Iqbal Bano, challenging the Lahore High Court Divisional Bench’s judgement of dismissing Hayat’s appeal seeking a stay in his execution.

During the proceedings, the bench was informed about the negligence on part of the jail authorities in terms of treating the mentally ill prisoner under the Pakistan Prison Rules 1978.

“Khizar Hayat was never provided adequate mental healthcare under the Rule 444 of Pakistan Prison Rules. Under the provision, the jail authorities are obligated to shift the prisoners of unsound mind to a mental health facility after an observatory period of 10 days,” argued Hayat’s counsel before the judges.

Suspending Hayat’s execution warrant, the court strongly reprimanded the jail authorities for their failure in abiding by the prison rules, and ordered a fresh medical examination of Hayat by a special medical board constituted by the Supreme Court.

The case was adjourned till the board examines Hayat and submits a report with the larger bench.

The five-member larger bench is currently hearing the precedent-setting case of two other mentally ill prisoners Imdad Ali and Kanizan Bibi.

Following uproar, CJP suspends mentally-ill prisoner's execution

Earlier, Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar had also taken a suo motu notice of Hayat’s case on January 12 in the wake of a public outcry, and had suspended his execution warrant.

The jail authorities had obtained the death warrant for Hayat on January 10 despite an order of the National Commission for Human Rights restraining them from doing so while the Supreme Court is setting jurisprudence on the matter.

Hayat has spent 16 years on death row after he was sentenced to death for fatally shooting his colleague - a police official. He was first diagnosed as a schizophrenic in 2008 by the jail authorities. Several psychiatrists who have examined him since then have diagnosed him as actively suffering from schizophrenia, with no improvement in condition. The fact of his mental illness and treatment within the jail was never raised by his state counsel or disclosed by the jail authorities during his trial and appeals.

Justice Project Pakistan Executive Director Sarah Belal adds: “We are relieved that Khizar Hayat’s life has been saved for the time being. However, this is the fourth time in three years that the jail authorities have scheduled his execution – dragging Hayat and his family through this is nothing short of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. A stay is not enough, mentally ill prisoners belong to a mental health facility not death row.”

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