Scheduled hangings: Five convicts face execution

Except Zulfiqar Ali, all the other four men are lodged in the jails of Sindh

SUKKUR/ RAWALPINDI/ KARACHI:

By the time this story is published, five convicts are likely to go to the gallows in Pakistan – taking to 14 the total number of convicts executed since the authorities lifted a six-year moratorium on capital punishment.

With the exception of Zulfiqar Ali, who was to be hanged in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail early Tuesday morning, all the other four convicts are lodged in the prisons of Sindh.

If no stay or pardon comes before their hanging, they will become the first inmates in Sindh to be executed since February 2008.



Behram Khan, who has no affiliation with any terrorist organisation, was scheduled to be executed in Karachi’s Central Jail while Mohammad Talha, Khalil Ahmed and Mohammad Shahid Hanif of the outlawed Laskhar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) were to be hanged in Sukkur’s Central Prison between 6:00am and 6:30am on Tuesday.

Days before the executions were scheduled, security was tightened in jails across Sindh. At Karachi Central Jail, army troops in bullet-proof jackets marched around the premises. In Sukkur, soldiers took up positions, especially at the main gate of the central prison.

Death beckons

Behram Khan’s last meal on Monday night was a KFC zinger burger and a soft drink.

All day long, his family tried to contact the legal heirs of the victim, a lawyer, whom Behram had murdered in the court in 2003.

The family involved politicians, such as Mumtaz Bhutto and Ayaz Soomro, and offered Rs20 million in compensation to the victim’s heirs in a desperate attempt to secure a pardon for Behram.

But till the filing of the story, Behram, who has been dodging death since 2012 with presidential stay orders, was not pardoned by the victim’s family and was scheduled to be sent to the gallows.

At the prison, where relatives poured in to meet him a day before his execution, Behram’s brother, Pir Buksh, a police officer, said: “He is not a terrorist. Why is he being hanged?”

Behram Khan, 42, was sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in 2003 for killing an advocate Mohammad Ashraf in Sindh High Court premises in the same year. His accomplice, a police officer, was sentenced to life imprisonment.

According to police, Behram Khan wanted to kill Qurban Ali Chohan, the lawyer for a man who was accused of killing his maternal uncle. However, he mistakenly killed Ashraf as and he and his accomplice had never seen Chohan.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Ashraf’s family refused to talk to anyone. Jail officials said they have locked their house and gone to an undisclosed place.

According to the jail superintendent, Kazi Nazeer Ahmed, Behram Khan donated all his belongings to fellow prisoners.

In the Sukkur jail

On Monday, officials in Sukkur jail were finalising arrangements for the execution of three prisoners. All three convicts were allowed to have their last meetings with their relatives.

The relatives, however, refused to talk to the media. All three accused are said to be involved in the murder of a government officer in Karachi. Prison officials including, the jail superintendent and the DIG prison did not field phone calls.

Prisoner in Adiala

Zulfiqar Ali on Monday met his family members and relatives. He was convicted for attacking the US Consulate in Karachi, an incident in which two policemen and six pedestrians were killed. A resident of Karachi’s Naval Colony, Zulfiqar Ali was awarded the death sentence on February 28, 2003 and was shifted to Adiala Jail on November 3, 2014.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2015.