‘My 17 death sentences’ by Jaleel Morejo

The man who holds the country’s record for the most death sentences tells his tale.

SUKKUR:

“Evading death 17 times brings joy and worry at the same time. I feel that I am constantly being taken to the gallows but am stopped midway.”

Hafiz Jaleel Morejo — more commonly known as Jalal Morejo because of a spelling error in his FIR and jail record — sets a new record each time he heads to the gallows, and breaks it each time he returns. After his 17th return trip from the noose, he tried to tell the world of his innocence in an interview recorded at the Sukkur Central Jail-I on Monday. “I am serving a 14-year sentence for a crime I never committed,” he told The Express Tribune.

Jaleel, a jawan in the 7th Sindh Regiment from 1993 to 1997, is a Hafiz-e-Quran. “Whenever a black warrant is issued for me, I start praying to Allah Almighty,” he said.

Jaleel’s version of events differ from the recorded facts. He claims that his father, Abdullah Morejo, was embroiled in a karo-kari dispute with his uncle, Haji Habibullah Morejo, and some other men. The matter was resolved at a jirga. “In accordance with the jirga’s verdict, we married a girl from our side to the Haji Habibullah Morejo group and thought that the dispute has been resolved once and for all,” he said. “However, my uncle, cousins and other people went against the verdict and raided our land. They killed my father, Abdullah Morejo, and uncle, Maulvi Abdul Haq Morejo.”

Jaleel says he was framed by his cousins after they killed their own brother. Haji Haroon Morejo — the man Jaleel was accused of killing — was suffering from cancer. Jaleel says Haroon’s brothers killed him while he was praying at the mosque. Jaleel claims to have just arrived in town to visit his family back in May 1997 when the police arrested him on murder charges. “I kept pleading innocent all the way from the police station and all through the court proceedings, but it was no use.”

“My cousins are quite well off and they spent their money like anything,” he added darkly.

When he finally got out, he married his childhood sweetheart and headed back to the army. “I was bailed out in 1999 and as soon as I reached the village I married my cousin Rashda. Just four days after the Rukhsati, I left to rejoin the army. When I returned on a two-month leave, the police arrested me once again claiming my bail had been cancelled.”

Jaleel says he has even tried reconciliation but his cousins demanded Rs1 million as blood money.

Despite the setbacks, Jaleel remains optimistic. His wife, who lives with her parents, visits him every two or three months and she too believes that her husband will come home soon.

His case history reveals that he lives in Chanari village in the Naushahro Feroze district and had shot Haji Mohammad Haroon Morejo to avenge the murder of his father and uncle in 1997. On April 7, 2000 the Naushahro Feroze district and sessions court gave Jaleel the death penalty. Petitions with the Sindh High Court, Supreme Court and an appeal to the then president were dismissed.

In what appeared to be the hand of God — or in this case the hand of the president — his execution, meant for March 14, 2008, was pushed back two months by the new president, Asif Ali Zardari. The newly elected Pakistan Peoples Party government intended to amend death penalty law.

This was by no means the end of the matter and Jaleel had to endure 16 more black warrants. Luckily, they all fell through. On July 1, his 17th death penalty was scheduled for July 14 at 4:30 am. He was saved by the president’s decision to postpone all death penalties throughout the country till September 30.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 26^th,  2011.