PHC extends stay in prisoner hanging

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday extended the stay in execution of a condemned prisoner through ‘hanging’ till the next order.

Jan Bahadar, a resident of Takht Bhai town in the Mardan district, a condemned prisoner, had sought direction from the court for the provincial government to adopt painless, modern and scientific method of execution in the province. He has been languishing in the death cell at Haripur Central Prison of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

A division bench comprising Justice Lal Jan Khattak and Justice Abdul Shakoor also put on notice attorney general and Council of Islamic Ideology. They were asked to submit reply and explain their legal and Islamic point of view in questions raised in the petition. The high court has also sought legal assistance from advocate general Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the case.

The PHC had stayed the execution of the condemned prisoner on July 20. He had challenged the British-era way of execution through ‘hanging’ of condemned prisoners. He termed the practice un-Islamic, painful and inhuman.

Secretary Council of Islamic Ideology, secretary Law and Parliamentary Affairs, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, secretary Home and Tribal Affairs, Superintendent Jail Haripur and District and Sessions Judge Takht Bhai were made parties to the case.

Presently, the petitioner said, in the US condemned prisoners are executed through lethal injection. It was explained that three injections are used under this method.

According to the Justice Project Pakistan, by May 2017, a total of 465 prisoners have been sent to gallows since Pakistan lifted the moratorium on executions in December 2014.