'Dodging death': SHC issues notices to AG, ATC in Saulat Mirza case
Nighat Mirza requests that the execution should be delayed until a fresh probe and arrest of other culprits
KARACHI:
With just five days left to Saulat Mirza's execution, the Sindh High Court has sought replies from the home and prison authorities over the possibility of reopening his case.
Mirza, who is currently being held in Mach Jail awaiting the execution of his sentence for murdering the then Karachi Electric Supply Company Managing Director Shahid Hamid, had his March 19 sentencing postponed after his video confession emerged wherein he made startling claims.
On Thursday, the SHC sought response from the advocate general, prosecutor general and the ATC based on a petition filed by Saulat's wife Nighat. She requested that his execution should be delayed until a fresh probe has taken place.
A division bench, comprising Justices Naimatullah Phulpoto and Shaukat Ali Memon, would take up the matter on Friday.
Read: Execution deferment: Saulat Mirza makes second plea
Earlier, during Thursday's proceedings, Nighat Mirza pleaded before the two-member bench that Karachi’s anti-terrorism court-V had issued fresh black warrants fixing execution of her husband on May 12 in Mach, Balochistan.
She highlighted that her husband in his video statement had disclosed the names of the ‘actual culprits committing the aforementioned crime’, arguing that a fresh probe and arrest of the others accused was needed.
Nighat further said that the hanging was earlier postponed with the government announcing that it will conduct an investigation into his video statement. “A joint investigation team arrived at Mach Jail and recorded Saulat’s statement in which the latter briefly stated all the facts”.
Read: ‘Not entertainable’: SC rejects Saulat Mirza’s review plea
She insisted that her husband was a valuable witness to the incident and ‘this evidence could be very important to trace other culprits involved in the heinous act'.
Accepting her plea, the judges issued the aforementioned notices and summoned response from the official respondents for May 8.
With just five days left to Saulat Mirza's execution, the Sindh High Court has sought replies from the home and prison authorities over the possibility of reopening his case.
Mirza, who is currently being held in Mach Jail awaiting the execution of his sentence for murdering the then Karachi Electric Supply Company Managing Director Shahid Hamid, had his March 19 sentencing postponed after his video confession emerged wherein he made startling claims.
On Thursday, the SHC sought response from the advocate general, prosecutor general and the ATC based on a petition filed by Saulat's wife Nighat. She requested that his execution should be delayed until a fresh probe has taken place.
A division bench, comprising Justices Naimatullah Phulpoto and Shaukat Ali Memon, would take up the matter on Friday.
Read: Execution deferment: Saulat Mirza makes second plea
Earlier, during Thursday's proceedings, Nighat Mirza pleaded before the two-member bench that Karachi’s anti-terrorism court-V had issued fresh black warrants fixing execution of her husband on May 12 in Mach, Balochistan.
She highlighted that her husband in his video statement had disclosed the names of the ‘actual culprits committing the aforementioned crime’, arguing that a fresh probe and arrest of the others accused was needed.
Nighat further said that the hanging was earlier postponed with the government announcing that it will conduct an investigation into his video statement. “A joint investigation team arrived at Mach Jail and recorded Saulat’s statement in which the latter briefly stated all the facts”.
Read: ‘Not entertainable’: SC rejects Saulat Mirza’s review plea
She insisted that her husband was a valuable witness to the incident and ‘this evidence could be very important to trace other culprits involved in the heinous act'.
Accepting her plea, the judges issued the aforementioned notices and summoned response from the official respondents for May 8.