A cruel dilemma

Hanging a paraplegic is no simple matter, whether from the purely logistical perspective or when viewed through the prism of human rights. There are strict protocols associated with a hanging concerning the length of rope — too long and there could be a decapitation, too short and the convict dies of slow strangulation — but there is no protocol attached to hanging a man who is in a wheelchair and cannot ascend the gallows himself. Even if he and his wheelchair were got into position for the drop, there is no certainty that there could be a ‘clean’ execution. Prison staff have been instructed by a three-member bench of the Supreme Court not to violate any laws in carrying out executions. Given this, the hanging of 43-year-old Abdul Basit, a paraplegic, has been put on hold while the legal requirements are investigated further.



The moratorium on the death penalty was cancelled in the wake of the Army Public School massacre last December. As of June 2015, there are around 1,500 people on death row, about 1,000 of whom have had their appeals rejected. Far from the current round of executions being of those described as ‘hardened terrorists’, the majority executed thus far have been ‘ordinary’ criminals, unconnected to terrorism in any way. Many of those executed were convicted many years ago in circumstances that may suggest that there was a miscarriage of justice, so flawed were their trials. It is not inconceivable that completely innocent people have been hanged to death. The death penalty offers no deterrent to terrorists anyway, who for the most part welcome ‘martyrdom’.

Whether Abdul Basit is truly guilty as charged appears also to be open to question, and if there is the slightest suspicion that a conviction that carries the death sentence has any shred of doubt about it, then the execution should not go ahead. Local and international human rights organisations have called for the reinstatement of the moratorium and the commutation of his sentence to life imprisonment for Abdul Basit. Thus far, the government has been deaf to all such calls, and if it can find a way to legally execute him, then unfortunately, in all probability it will.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 24^th, 2015.

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