Fait accompli: SHC dismisses appeals, two convicts to be hanged

Sindh High Court delays execution of third convict

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) dismissed on Friday the petitions against the black warrants issued for three death convicts, including Shafqat Hussain, whose execution has officially been delayed.

Two convicts, Behram Khan and Muhammad Saeed, are scheduled to be executed in Karachi Central Jail on January 14 and January 15, according to the black warrants issued by the anti-terrorism court. Their relatives had approached the high court to seek a cancelation of the death warrants citing procedural issues.

The petitioners, Gul Zaman and Peer Bux, brothers of convicts Shafqat and Behram, had said the federal government has announced a policy to execute only 'hardcore terrorists' in order to deter other militants present in the country.

The Sindh government requested the anti-terrorism courts to issue black warrants for six convicts, including Hussain and Khan, who are not associated with any terrorist or anti-state banned outfit. Their names have been put on the list of hardcore terrorists, which is an arbitrary step and appears to be sheer negligence on the part of the respondent government, said Advocate Akbar, adding that putting the two convicts on the list of hardened terrorists is a violation of the federal government's policy.

On Friday, Karachi Central Jail superintendent Kazi Nazeer submitted two notifications: the first issued by the interior secretary on December 17, and the second issued to the Sindh home secretary on January 6. The jailer informed that the federal government has stayed the execution of Shafqat Hussain, who was underage at the time of committing the murder for which he was given the death sentence.

The judges dismissed the petition of Hussain's brother, who did not press the matter further in view of the assurance by the jailer.

Behram's petition

The petition to cancel Behram's black warrant was, however, cancelled by the judges. The bench members remarked that the conviction awarded to him by the trial court was maintained by the SHC in appeal.

The judgment of this court was challenged in the Supreme Court, which was maintained and even the criminal review petition was also dismissed by the SC. According to the black warrant his mercy petition has also been dismissed by the president on December 31, 2014.

The two judges observed that, "after exhausting all the available remedies by the convict, this court, under its constitutional jurisdiction, cannot revisit the chain of judgments or intervene in the matter. Consequently, this petition is dismissed in limine."

Saeed's petition

The bench also dismissed the petition against the black warrant issued to Muhammad Saeed Awan that had requested his sentence be changed to life imprisonment, counting the period from the date of his arrest as part of his sentence served in jail. He is scheduled to be hanged in Karachi on January 15.

The judges noted that the high court had already dismissed his appeal against the sentences awarded by the trial court, and it was later upheld by the SHC. His appeal was dismissed by the SC and, later, by the president.

Lawyer Muhammad Akbar Khan argued that under constitutional jurisdiction and Section 561-A of the Criminal Procedure Code, the high court can commute the sentence of the petitioner from a death penalty to life imprisonment. To substantiate his stance, he also referred to two judgments rendered by the other high courts in the country in 1982 and 1997.

"We have gone through both the precedents but found distinguishable," the two judges remarked as they dismissed his petition. Behram and Saeed will be hanged on January 14 and January 15, respectively.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th, 2015.