Legal Procedures: Execution of ‘extortionist’ stopped

LAHORE: A Lahore High Court (LHC) division bench on Tuesday suspended the execution of a murder convict until March 16 and issued notices to jail authorities and other respondents. Qaiser alias Billa was scheduled to be hanged on Wednesday (today) at a Faisalabad jail. The bench, headed by Justice Mazahir Ali Akbar Naqvi, heard a petition moved by him. Billa submitted through his counsel that he had been awarded death sentence in a murder case. He said he had reached a compromise with the heirs of the deceased but the trial court had not accepted it. He said jail authorities had now obtained death warrants from the trial court. He said this was illegal and a violation of his rights. A law officer told the court the accused had been tried under the charges related to murder and the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA)… the execution could not be stopped. According to the prosecution, Billa had killed Shafique, a trader, for not paying him protection money.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 11^th, 2015.