Another reprieve: Execution of convicted murderer stayed

High court accepted plea and sought replies from the federation, Punjab advocate general and the judge on October 13.

RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court has stayed the execution of a convicted murderer, who was due to hang on Thursday. District and Sessions Judge Abdul Sattar, on September 6, had ordered the Adiala Jail superintendent to hang Shoaib Sarwar on September 18. His mother had filed an intra-court plea to stay the sentence because of a moratorium on the death penalty by the federal government. The high court accepted the plea and sought replies from the federation, Punjab advocate general and the judge on October 13. Sarwar was accused of murdering Awais Nawaz on January 21, 1996 in Wah Cantt and awarded a death sentence on July 2, 1998.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th, 2014.