Convict pardoned, execution stayed

LAHORE

A district and sessions court Wednesday stayed execution of a murder convict after the complainant pardoned the convict. 

The hanging of the convict, Muhammad Azad, was scheduled for Thursday (today) at Kot Lakhpat Jail. 

A trial court had sentenced Azad to death in 2001 for killing a minor girl. The convict filed a petition against issuance of his death warrants and stated that the complainant had forgiven him.

Counsel of the complainant confirmed before the court that his client had pardoned the convict and he had no objection to halting the execution.

The court after hearing the counsel accepted the petition and stayed the execution of the convict. 

death warrants: A district and sessions court Wednesday issued black warrants to two murder convicts for their execution on February 17. 

North Cantonment police had registered a murder case against Obaidullah and Shikar Ali.

They were awarded death sentence in 2009 and their appeals against the penalty were dismissed by the high court and the supreme court. The president had also turned down their mercy appeals. 

Kot Lakhpat Jail’s superintendent had requested the court to issue the death warrants to the convicts. Judge Nazir Ahmad Gajana issued the warrants.