Execution of paralysed prisoner stayed

LAHORE
The Lahore High Court on Tuesday stayed the execution of a ‘paralysed’ prisoner, Abdul Basit, by suspending his death warrants issued for July 29.
Basit, 43, was convicted and sentenced to death for murder in 2009. In 2010, he contracted tubercular meningitis in prison, which left him paralysed from the waist down, his counsel Azam Nazir Tarar told a division bench. He said despite being unable to stand and wheelchair-bound, death warrants were issued last week. He said the execution of a paralysed man would constitute cruel and unusual punishment, violating fundamental rights to human dignity enshrined in the Constitution.
The counsel pointed out that Pakistan’s law had provisions for mercy to be granted in cases where prisoners were suffering from severe “ill-health”. The government’s failure to acknowledge it and commute Basit’s sentence appeared to form part of a worrying trend involving the blanket dismissal of all mercy petitions since executions resumed in 2014, he added. He asked the court to set aside the death warrants for Basit and stop authorities concerned from hanging him.