Execution postponed for a day

The convicts — Muhammad Faisal and Muhammad Afzal — will be hanged if trial court does not accept the compromise plea

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) dismissed on Monday a plea regarding the compromise of two death convicts, whose execution was scheduled for March 5 at Karachi Central Jail, with the family of a man they had killed during armed robbery in 1998.

A division bench, headed by Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh, however, suspended the operation of black warrants issued for their execution for one day to enable their family to pursue a compromise plea with the Anti-Terrorism Court.

The convicts — Muhammad Faisal and Muhammad Afzal — will be hanged if the trial court does not accept the compromise plea.

In 1999, an ATC had given the death sentence to both the men for murdering a man during a robbery bid in Korangi.

Dismissing their appeals, the SHC had confirmed their sentences, which were later also upheld by the Supreme Court. The convicts' relatives, however, moved the high court on Friday against the black warrants issued for their execution, claiming that "both convicts were pardoned by the legal heirs of the deceased."

They argued that since the victim's family had pardoned the convicts, they cannot be executed. The court was pleaded to suspend the operation of the black warrants.

On Monday, the two judges took up the identical pleas. "Since this court has already dismissed the appeals of both the convicts against their sentences and its decision was also upheld by the apex court, it cannot pass any judgment on the compromise plea moved by the parties," observed Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh, head of the bench.

The judges suspended the operation of the black warrants till March 6, saying that the victim’s families may file an application before the trial court which shall be decided by it in accordance with laws.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 3^rd, 2015.