Court stays executions of Faisalabad convicts

LAHORE:

A Lahore High Court division bench on Thursday stayed execution of two death row prisoners scheduled to be hanged on September 11 at Faisalabad Central Jail.

The court stayed the execution of Akhlaq Ahmad and Shaukat Ali till September 16 and sought a reply from a Faisalabad anti-terrorism court (ATC).

The bench, comprising Justice Abdul Sami Khan and Justice James Joseph, issued the order on a petition moved by the convicts after issuance of their death warrants. Aftab Ahmad Bajwa, counsel for the petitioners, told the court his clients had been sentenced to death by an ATC for killing Zafar Iqbal and Tariq Javed in 2001.

He said the sentence was upheld by the apex court and the president had rejected their appeal for pardon. Bajwa said the family of the deceased had decided to pardon the convicts. He said an application in this regard had been filed on August 29 to the ATC so that the death sentence could be set aside.  “However, on September 8, the court issued death warrants for my clients,” he said. “My clients’ application has not been addressed by the ATC.” He asked the court to set aside the death warrants and stay the execution till the matter was resolved. The court stayed the execution till September 16 and sought reply from the ATC Faisalabad.

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