Death row prisoners: The fate of thousands ‘hanging’ in the balance

With possibility that capital punishment may be replaced with life imprisonment, there is absence of a clear policy.

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday sought the records of death row prisoners who have been awaiting execution for many years. The government had earlier announced that it would alter capital punishment with life imprisonment. However, in the absence of any clear policy, the fate of thousands remains undecided.

Barrister Zafarullah Khan, counsel for the petitioner Dr Yaqoob Bhatti, told a bench of the apex court headed by Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali that there are currently 8,000 prisoners facing death sentences across the country. They are not being pardoned, but neither are they being executed, and this uncertainty is taking a toll on their mental health.

Khan also said that during the last five years, only one prisoner, a retired soldier, was hanged.

Appeals of these convicts are pending with the SC, the Federal Shariat Court, General Headquarters of the Army (GHQ) and the President of Pakistan. Barrister Khan pointed out that out of 6,358 prisoners languishing in Punjab jails, 896 approached the SC for relief, while 355 appealed to the President for mercy. Khan further said that four prisoners’ appeals have yet to be decided by the GHQ, while 27 prisoners’ appeals are pending with Federal Shariat Court.

Attorney General Irfan Qadir did not appear before the court and, in his stead, one of his deputies was instructed to furnish all details instead.

Background

There has been a de facto moratorium on executions since the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) returned to power in 2008. Every three months, the presidency issues a letter through respective home departments, staying all executions. The home departments then issue instructions to the department chiefs of provincial prisons. In 2008, former PM Gilani, in a meeting with the Human Rights Watch, agreed to enforce a moratorium on executions and to commute death sentences to life imprisonment.

In the past four years there has been expectation that the government would convert the death penalty into life imprisonment but, with the tenure almost over, there is still no sign of a bill. Reports say former PM Gilani had constituted a committee comprising the interior minister, law minister, the attorney general and representatives of provincial governments to give input on legislation over the subject. Some meetings over the issue were also held during the tenure of former law minister Dr Babar Awan, but none have been conducted since then. The government is still to present anything concrete in parliament for debate.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 12^th, 2012.