Halt execution: HRCP

LAHORE

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has urged the authorities concerned to halt the imminent execution of a mentally challenged death row prisoner who is scheduled to be hanged in Vehari on November 2.

In a communication sent on Thursday, HRCP brought to President Mamnoon Hussain’s attention the disposal by the Supreme Court last week of a plea regarding the death row prisoner, Imdad Hussain, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. The court concluded that simply because schizophrenia was a "recoverable disease", it did not fall within the definition of "mental disorder" under the Mental Health Ordinance, 2001.

HRCP expressed serious concern regarding the reasoning of the SC in the matter and stated that the decision raised the question whether judges could decide on their own matters which by their very nature needed to be judged on the basis of expert advice. It called upon the president to urgently intervene to ensure that Imdad’s imminent execution is halted and the pursuit of hanging mentally challenged persons is abandoned.