Death warrants for disabled convict suspended

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Monday suspended death warrants for a physically disabled death row convict in the murder case of five persons.Execution of Maqbool Hussain (67), disabled with one leg, was scheduled at the Multan Jail today (Tuesday).
The court sought comments from the federal law secretary and jail authorities for August 11, the next date of hearing. Petitioner Maqbool Hussain through a writ petition submitted that he was awarded life imprisonment four times, death sentence and Rs50,000 fine by the Anti-Terrorism Court, Multan, in year 2000. He said the Lahore High Court Multan Bench confirmed his death sentence on June 13, 2006. He said the Supreme Court also dismissed his appeal against death sentence on July 30, 2015 and his execution was scheduled for August 04. He said his trial was totally flawed as he was not given right to engage his counsel. He said although a prosecutor had been appearing on his behalf but he himself could not hire his counsel to defend his case. He said according to Article 10(1) of the Constitution, every citizen has right to engage his counsel after being arrested.
He said the police had involved him in five murder cases took place in 1996 in Multan. He said Muhammad Hussain, Abdul Ghaffar, Muhammad Azhar and two others died. He said he is an elderly man with one leg as his enemies had shot him on the leg which lost his leg. He requested the court to stay his execution as legal requirements were not fulfilled during his trial. After hearing the arguments, the court stayed his execution and issued a notice for August 11.