Death penalty: Murder convict hanged in Haripur

Bashir had been in prison for last 18 years.

HARIPUR: A convicted murderer was hanged in Central Prison Haripur on Wednesday morning. Insiders told The Express Tribune Bashir, a resident of Mohallah Dhok Talokar, Haripur was convicted by a Rawalpindi court about 18 years ago for murder. Bashir exhausted all forums for appeals, from the high court to the supreme court, and even filed a mercy plea with the president of Pakistan.

On President Mamnoon Hussain’s orders, Bashir was shifted to his home district, Haripur, where he spent about five years under the moratorium on executions that the previous government had imposed.

However, the moratorium was lifted following the brutal attack on Army Public School in Peshawar that claimed lives of over 150 people and executions resumed across the country.

According to insiders, a black warrant from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Home and Tribal Affairs department was issued for Bashir, following which he was allowed to meet his family for the last time on Tuesday.

Bashir was hanged at 4:30am on Wednesday in the gallows of Haripur jail in the presence of judicial magistrate, jail doctor and superintendent. Sadiq Maseeh, the official executioner of Peshawar jail, came to Haripur to help with the hanging. Bashir’s body was later handed over to the family for burial.

Security remained tight in and around the jail premises while the execution was in process. This was the third execution in Haripur jail since March, 2015.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th,  2015.