SHC summons officials as Saulat’s wife seeks retrial

Karachi
On a petition for a retrial submitted by Saulat Mirza’s wife on Thursday, the Sindh High Court issued notices summoning, among others, the provincial home department and the IG Prisons of Sindh and Balochistan for a hearing scheduled for Friday (today).
Nighat Jaffer Malik, wife of the condemned prisoner who is now scheduled to be hanged on May 12, moved the court for suspension of Saulat’s latest death sentence and a retrial of all the accused he had implicated in KESC MD Shahid Hamid’s murder through a confessional video released from his Machh jail cell on March 19.
She maintained that since Saulat was the only person to have identified the other culprits, who include senior members of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement leadership, his importance for any potential investigations was unparalleled.
If the case was not investigated in light of Saulat’s confession then the case would be as good as buried, she submitted, and a negative precedent would be set for any person who might be courageous enough to speak the truth about influential personalities.
Nighat requested the court to reopen the case by charging all the accused and to halt Saulat’s impending execution in the interest of justice.
Consequently, the SHC division bench headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto issued notices to the Sindh advocate general and prosecutor general, along with the home secretaries and IG prisons of Sindh and Balochistan for May 8.
Mirza, who was initially sentenced to death by an ATC on May 24, 1999, had previously sent three applications through his counsel asserting that he had made a confessional statement regarding the involvement of his co-accused in the case; therefore, a fresh trial should be conducted and all accused questioned.
He also sought suspension of his death sentence till a decision was made on his application, as well as his shifting to Karachi’s central prison from the Machh jail.
Mirza sent another application seeking protection for his spouse and other family members, who, he said, were receiving death threats from South Africa.
He said his wife knew the names of those persons who were threatening her and other family members, and asked the court to take action against the culprits by initiating proceedings against them under Section 190 of the CrPC.